6teen Oogie's Revenge
by ike1992
Summary: Oogie Boogie has returned and he,s trying to take over halloween town can jonesy jude wyatt jimmy nikki caitlin jen joe fred sam samantha and jack stop Oogie Boogie chapter 22 the last chapter up!
1. Chapter 1 a new adventure

jan 1st 10:00 pm in a small rich neighborhood a 16 year old boy was heading off to bed he had to get his beauty rest the next few days were going to be big days thank goodness it was winter break

the 16 year old was named jonsey Garcia. he and his 6 best friends jimmy x jude lizowski wyatt Williams Caitlin cooke nikki wong jen masterson and his 4 for more friends joe fred sam and Samantha they had just finished another day at the galleria mall as he made his way through his snazzy disco theme room complete with a cd player a plasma widescreen tv and a ps3 his eyes stopped at his desk.

sitting on his desk was his pistol and one of his brothers old maps but it wasen,t like like his other maps which usually led jonsey into trouble this was a magical map one that held a lot of value to jonesy as he gazed at the map jonsey began to remember what he has been doing at this time of year...

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on halloween night of last year jonesy had found the old map in his attic he jimmy jude wyatt nikki caitlin jen joe fred sam and samantha jodie and freddi followed it until they had found a strange jack o, lantern door carved in a tree deep in the woods outside of apple creek school they had been pulled into another world a world in which halloween was created and it was called halloween town.

in halloween town the gang met the ruler of halloween a very tall but kind skeleton named jack skellington (known by the townspeople as the pumpkin king ). however, jack had become dissatisfied with doing the same old thing year after year and he was depressed he wanted something new.

and he got. well, sort of . before the gang knew it they along with jack discovered a new town called christmas town but jimmy and caitlin went missing in the town and while the gang were searching for them they ended up meeting jack face to face jack who had never heard of any other halloween was immediately captivated and recruited the gang to help him bring christmas to halloween town (since they were experts on the subject).

when jonesy learned that jack wanted to take over christmas for himself even though he really didn,t understand it he was against the idea ( and the fact that jack knew jonesy had been spying on him didn't help either). but when jonesy learned that jack would also be making the presents he pretended to go along with it so he could get his free present but jen wyatt and sally one of jack,s friends knew that it definitely wasn,t going to work.

the gang finally reunited with jimmy and caitlin in the town hall jimmy and caitlin had been off looking for a way to become santa's elves' but they couldn't find it so they ended up following three brats named lock shock and barrel back to halloween town jack instructed lock shock and barrel to bring santa claus (or "sandy claws," as jack called him) to halloween town.

jimmy and caitlin suspicious of the three kids ended up following them and learning that they were planning to do terrible things to santa along with their boss some guy named oogie boogie but luckily jimmy and caitlin were able to stall the process by tricking lock shock and barrel into taking the easter rabbit instead of santa.

but unfortunately the three brats got it right on the second time jude wyatt nikki jen joe fred sam samantha jodie freddi sally and even jonesy tried one last time to talk jack out of the plan but jack was too preoccupied to listen and despite jack,s orders lock shock and berral took santa to oogie boogie who kidnaped santa along with jimmy and caitlin.

sally finally resorted to creating a fog so jack couldn't take off but all this did was give jonsey an opportunity to sneak into jack's sleigh without being seen thanks to jack,s dog zero the sleigh did take off with jonesy still inside!

jack began putting his macabre presents inside every home in the rich neighborhood and tricked jonesy into coming out of his hiding spot jonesy was mad at first but not for long after jack began a conversation about jonesys map of halloween town the two found out that jonesys brother was actually one of jacks old friends! as they rode through the sky jonesy and jack were beginning to become friends... until military units shot down the "imposter that was mangling christmas."

jack and jonesy landed in the cemetery outside of town and jack after a small pity-fist finally saw the error of his ways he and jonesy knew that they were the only ones who could set things right so they headed back for halloween town.

but things weren't so good there either when jude wyatt nikki jen joe fred sam samantha and sally heard about the military units they went to oogie's hideout in hopes of rescuing santa jimmy and caitlin but oogie caught them and almost sent all 12 of them into a cauldron of molten lava!

jack and jonesy got there just in time and after a short showdown with the gambling sack of bugs they sent oogie barreling into his own lava. now that everything was safe santa went off to fix the things jack had messed up.

jack sally and the gang went back to halloween town where they were greeted by the overjoyed townspeople santa brought snow to the town then as the gang were leaving they saw jack and sally reveal their true feelings for each other at the top of spiral hill.

when jonesy got home he was swamped with over a months worth of undone homework but for some reason ( probably because compared to what he had just gone through homework was nothing ). jonesy felt like doing it and he actually got it all done!

thankfully it was easy creating an excuse for jonesy's parents they had jobs that caused them to leave before jonesy woke up in the morning and come home in the late evening when jonesy was already in bed. sure they were never home but they had just assumed that jonesy had just done his daily routine enough said.

---

as the memories drifted through jonesy's head he switched off overhead light and turned on his lava lamp he laid down and buried himself under the covers his eyelids began to flutter shut but just as he was about to fall asleep...

" HURRY JACK"!

jonesy shot up. his eyes must have been as wide as dinner plates he looked around his dimly lit room there was nobody there.

so then... why did he just hear a woman's voice just now?

And even weirder, it sounded very familiar.

sal-

RING!

jonesy's cell phone ringing jarred him from his thoughts he quickly picked it up and answered it

"Hello?" he asked cautiously.

"jonesy?" jonesy relaxed when he heard jen's voice on the other end "jonesy you're going to think i'm crazy but i just heard ..."

"someone,s voice" said sam.

i heard something too " said wyatt.

" me too " said nikki.

" me three" said caitlin.

"dude me too" said jude.

"me fred and samantha heard something also " said joe.

"hello? hello?"

"jimmy?" asked nikki.

"who's there?" asked jimmy.

"As i was saying..." said jen. " i was about to go to sleep and i heard sally's voice, jonesy! but when i sat up, there was no one there!"

"miss sally was in your room too jen?" asked jimmy.

" you guys heard it too then" asked jonesy.

"this is quite queer, guys," said sam. " why would we all hear sally's voice here now? shouldn't she be back in halloween town?"

" yeah she should " said jonesy "what did she say?"

" hurry jack!" said jimmy imitating sally's voice

"thats what i heard her say too " said jen " do you think something happed to jack?"

jonesy began to ponder this then he gazed at the map on his desk and picked up his pistol loaded up and cocked it " guys get your guns and meet me at the entrance to the woods " he said " we're gonna take an unscheduled field trip."


	2. Chapter 2 meeting in the woods

Jonesy was trying to be patient as he waited at the entrance to the woods be fore he had left his house he had a pistol a m4 and a uzi and a knife he used one of his dads belts for his pistol holster and a knife holster and a shoulder strap for his uzi and m4 he looked down at the cup of white rice and orange chicken he had brought with him where were they how long had it been like three minutes

Just then jen nikki jude wyatt joe fred sam and Samantha ran up they all had belts for their pistols jen had uzi nikki had the same gun too jude had a mp and a m16 wyatt had a uzi and a ak joe had a tec-9 and a m4 fred had a tech-9 and a mp sam had a uzi and a ak Samantha had a uzi and a m4

" are we late?" asked jen

"yes" jonesy said " where have you guys been the past three minutes?"

nikki sighed "remind me why we're doing this again?" she asked

" we're just gonna see how things are doing in Halloween town that's all you know to see if jack's okay" jonesy said

"sure and why do you have that rice and chicken with you?" said jen

jonesy looked down at the cup "it's for if I get hungry" he said simply

" oh please" said jen "Halloween town's … what a fifteen minute walk more over that rice and chicken probably not very filling your stomach's still going to be empty no matter how much you eat"

"whatever" said jonesy " hey speaking of empty where the hell are jimmy and Caitlin?"

"maybe they already went in" said sam

"what?" said jonesy "but I said…"

"yes you said" said jen " but when do jimmy and caitlin usually listen to you?"

jonesy groaned as much as he hated to admit jen was right not much logic got to jimmy and caitlin's tiny brain's

jonesy reached into his pocket and got the magic map

"here" he said handing the map to sam " you know I can't read it"

" of course" said sam

" don't worry guys I'm sure we'll find jimmy and Caitlin"

"yeah?" asked jonesy " I guess if they don't try to sneak off to Christmas town to try to become elve's again"

so nikki jen jude wyatt jonesy joe fred sam and Samantha ventured into the woods follwing the magic map once again only this time they knew exactly where they were going but they were short 2 of the gang

"shit I swear if jimmy and Caitlin cause any trouble by themselves …" jonesy grumbled

" oh come on jonesy" said jen "I admit jimmy and Caitlin's behavior is some what… questionable but seriously how much trouble could they cause?"

" just think about for a minute" said nikki

so jen thought then her eye's widened " I guess you're right" she said " let's hope we find them soon"

at the point the jack o' lantern door was in sight and jonesy was seeing something else there at the base of the door were jimmy and Caitlin

jimmy was wearing a shoulder pistol holster and a belt for his machete knife and katana and he had a uzi and a ak

Caitlin was wearing a belt with a pistol holster and she had a uzi

" hey guys!" called fred

but they were too far away for jimmy and Caitlin to hear them as the gang ran to their 2 friends calling out their names jimmy simply opened the door and he and Caitlin jumped in

jen ran up to the now open door panting heavily

" wow jen" said jonesy " you should try out for cross-country you're so good at running"

jen ignored that comment

" jimmy Caitlin!" she called through the open door " you 2 get up here and close this door!"

" yeah like that's gonna work " said nikki

" let's go down and get them" said joe

" right" said jen

then jonesy ran up still holding his cup of chicken and rice and dove head first into the door the others cautiously looked down into the darkness closed their eye's and jumped in next the jack o' lantern closed behind them jonesy landed on solid ground first he grunted as the others fell on top of him they were now in the woods outside of Halloween town known as the hinterlands behind him was another door this one was shaped like an old house the others got off jonesy jonesy pushed jen off of him thankful that his chicken and rice cup hadn't broken and looked around then he groaned again there was no sign of jimmy and Caitlin

"jimmy Caitlin you idiot's!" jonesy said out loud " why didn't you wait for us?"

" oh dear" said jen getting up " did you see what they had on?"

" can we just go find jimmy and Caitlin already?" nikki said " they're starting to piss me off "

" oh" grumbled jen nikki was so stubborn sometimes

" fine let's move on so we can get back home" jen said

" fine" said jonesy

the gang walked through the woods in silence holding their uzi's and as they walked they began to notice something different about the woods it seemed a lot more bare than the last time they were here had some trees been cut down and even worse all the trees looked the same so jen and sam had to concentrate and even then they still felt lost then after a while of walking just when the gang began to feel that they knew where they were

ARR!!!

The sudden shriek away from the gang's back of course they began to shoot except sam being as fragile as he was jumped into the air slamming into jonesy knocking him down and making him drop his cup jonesy's rice and chicken spilled out all over the ground

" my chicken and rice…" jonesy groaned

" oh I'm so sorry jonesy did I make you do that?"

the gang turned around they knew who it was behind them

" hi jack" the gang said all together

sure enough there standing behind the gang was jack skellington himself he had his usal black and white pinstripe suit on and he had a big bag slung over his back

" hello guys" said jack " fancy beeting you all here I almost didn't recongnize you you have different weapons "

then he noticed that there were 2 missing

" hey where's jimmy and Caitlin?" jack asked

" we were about to ask you the same thing" said jonesy who began to crawl and pick up his food

" jimmy and Caitlin got away from us again jack" said wyatt " you haven't seen them have you?"

jack thought for a minute

" no sorry" he said " but what brings you all to Halloween town at this time of year?"

" we just thought we'd check up on you guy's see how everyone's doing" said jonesy

" jack what's in the bag?" asked wyatt

jack looked down at the bag slung over his shoulder

" what's this?" asked jack " well you see I've been out searching for new discoveries for next Halloween I wanted something new I do hope the townspeople haven't missed me too much"

" so you haven't been in Halloween town?" asked jen

" not since Halloween no" said jack

" new discoveries huh?" asked jonesy " I hope you weren't looking for them in Christmas town ?" he said suspiciously

" oh no" said jack ' you don't have to worry about that guy's I've learned my lesson no more taking over other holidays"

" good" said jen " I'm glad to hear that"

" hey did you find that weird bracelet while traveling?" asked nikki pointing to jack's wrist

jack looked at the bright green bracelet wrapped around his right wrist

" oh no" he said " you see the doctor made this for me he calls it the soul robber it's quite amazing just wacth"

jack put his sack down and aimed for a near by fallen branch he flicked his wrist suddenly the soul robber shot out and grabbed the branch pulling it to jack

" no way…" said jonesy as he stood up he had just finished pick ing up his rice and chicken

" duuuuuuuude" said jude

" oh my…" said jen then a grin appeared on her face " what a discovery I'm speechless I mean this is an absolute coup the control over it's projectile why…"

nikki wrapped her arm's around her friend " I thought you were speechless" she said " anyway that thing's cool jack I bet jimmy and Caitlin would flip if they saw that"

" which remind's me they're still missing again" said joe

" well who knows" asked jack " maybe they're already in Halloween town"

" let's hope so" said jen "oh I hope they're not causing any trouble for the townspeople"

and so jack along with the gang ventured onto Halloween town but little did they know all was not well


	3. Chapter 3 jack,s return

Before long jack and the gang made it to the gate that led into Halloween town but as they entered all of them immediately sensed that something was wrong

"That's strange" said jack "the town's deserted"

"Maybe it's a ghost town!" joked nikki

"apparently not the good kind…" said sam

there was nobody on the streets all the only sound they could hear was the water running through the fountain at the center of the town jack and the gang took a few steps forward then…

CLANG!

They turned back around the gate leading out of Halloween town had slammed down preventing

"What the fuck!?" asked jonesy

Then they heard a soft growl behind them they turned around there standing in front of them was a group of skeletons but they certainly didn't look like jack

"Oh" said jack stepping forward "I don't believe we've met I'm jack jack skell…"

But before jack could finish one of the skeletons lashed out to try and claw the pumpkin king jack jumped back just in time the gang stood wide-eyed and took out their pistols jack whipped out the soul robber

" You… you're not from Halloween town are you?" He asked the skeletons "just stand back guys" said jack "I'll take care of this"

the soul robber whipped out and grabbed one of the skeletons jack flicked his arm so he sent the skeleton he had a grip on slamming into the other skeletons they seemed dangerous but they were fragile they immediately broke upon contact with the soul robber when all the skeletons were gone jack retracted the soul robber panting lightly

"what on earth was that all about?" asked jen

MAAAAAAOWWWWW!!!!

Just then a very loud siren began to ring out through out the town

"whoa" said jonesy covering his ears "who's stepping on the cat?"

then another sound could be heard it sounded like microphone feedback

"testing… testing…testing… is this thing on?"

jack and the gang froze in place at this new voice they definitely knew where they had heard that voice before

"my dearly abhorred citizens of Halloween town this is oogie boogie speaking today I bring you a joyous announcement first of all in place of jack skellington yours truly is now the new ruler of Halloween town second today at this very hour at this exact moment I here by declare that this town's name will be changed to oogie town ba ha ha ha ha! Uh… that is all"

jack and the gang just stood there and listened as oogie talked but what was oogie even doing here hadn't jonesy and jack killed him last year why were they hearing his voice now? It wasen't until they knew that oogie was done talking that nikki decided to speak

"well that was a rip-off" she said "he didn't even tell us the joyous announcement"

jack looked worriedly across the town

"what happened while I was away?"

just then another sound was heard it came from the direction of the town hall

" Someone's inside!" exclaimed wyatt

they ran over to the entrance to the town hall but jonesy was so focused on the situation at hand he didn't notice that during the scuffle with the skeletons he had dropped something as they ran over someone else appeared at the entrance but his back was turned to them so the gang couldn't see who it was jack walked up to the new person

"hey what I'm not making anymore traps" said the new person turning around to face the confused teenager's when he turned around the gang identified him as mr hyde

"oh jack!" said mr hyde when he saw them " it's you jonesy jude wyatt nikki jen joe fred sam and Samantha too!"

" what exactly happened while I was away?" asked jack

"lock shock and barrel sewed oogie back together" explained mr hyde then his hat popped up and the medium mr hyde appeared

"bugs bags and all" said the medium mr hyde

"oogie is back" said the littlest mr hyde appearing from the medium mr hyde's hat

"what?!" asked jen in disbelief

"you've got be fucking shitting me!!" Exclaimed nikki

"dr finkelstein proposed the idea's for next Halloween" the largest mr hyde continued " he said you wanted a dangerous Halloween so we set up booby traps all over town he said that if we didn't you might never come back"

do you think hurting people with skeletons and ghosts is my idea of a good Halloween?" asked jack

"Apparently not" said nikki

"we just wanted you to come back" said mr hyde "but then the ghosts and skeletons began to appear and soon it wasn't even safe to be on the streets anymore"

" this is a disaster" said jack "I've got to find the docter"

"and we've got to find jimmy and Caitlin" said Samantha

"oh who knows if jimmy and Caitlin run into those things" said jen "they have no means defending themselves"

"jimmy and Caitlin?" asked mr hyde " I haven't seen them but I did see a boy and a girl with weapons entering the town hall a few minutes ago"

" that's jimmy and Caitlin!" the gang said together

"well then what are we waiting for?" asked jack "let's go in and get them"

"my thought's exactly" said fred

"be careful though" said mr hyde "those nasty ghosts were seen in there as well"

"I'm sure we can handle it" said jonesy

then the gang cautiously walked into the town hall the inside of the town was completely trashed chairs were turned over curtain were tattered windows were broken but the gang's faces lit up when they saw was sitting up on stage there was no question about it that was jimmy and Caitlin sitting up on stage but for some reason their backs was turned to them

"jimmy Caitlin!" said jen "thank god"

"what the hell are you doing here lumpies?" Asked jonesy "didn't you hear us calling you two back there?"

the gang began to walk toward their two friends but as they were jack noticed something different

"wait!" jack suddenly said the gang stopped

"what?" asked jonesy

then they saw what jack meant as jimmy and Caitlin began to stand up they noticed that something was wrong were jimmy and caitlin's bodies (except their heads) glowing black? They even got an even bigger surprise when jimmy and Caitlin turned around to face them jimmy and caitlin's eye's were glowing yellow

this wasn't jimmy and Caitlin but it had to be that was them on stage that had to be jimmy and Caitlin what was going on?

Then jimmy and caitlin's mouth's opened to speak and the voices that came out wasn't the happy voices of jimmy and caitlin

"Jaaaa-aaaaaack!!!"

The gangs eye's widened even jack looked shocked why was oogie,s voice coming out of jimmy and caitlin's mouth's

"oh my" said jen " this is serious guys oogie's taken over jimmy and caitlin's bodies!"

"how?" asked jack

"well I'm guessing it wasn't to hard" said nikki

"we have no choice guys" said jen "for jimmy and caitlin's sake we'll have to knock oogie out of them"

" what?" asked jack "but what if we hurt them?"

" oh that's not going to be a problem" said nikki

so jack readied his soul robber and aimed it at jimmy and Caitlin er… oogie but as they began to fight oogie began to sing unk's walk it out… with unk's voice

oogie boogie : heeeeeey now walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out

Westside walk it out southside walk it out eastside walk it out northside walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out Westside walk it out southside walk it out eastside walk it out northside walk it out now hit the dance floor and then your back low she do it with no hands now stop pop and roll I'm smoking bubble ho you dang trouble ho I like the way she move a undercover ho now everybody leaning I make the crowed rock now do the walk it out I see they on my jock she want that bubble duh is that a double mean teen 2 ho's chooseing so I know that I'm gonna win

Jack : it's on once again patrol once again I threw my head back then I froze like the wind

"oogie what have you done to everyone?" jack asked as he jumped around the room dodging oogie and the ghosts attacks while hitting jimmy and Caitlin's bodies with the soul robber

"They're all under my control!!" laughed oogie

the gang were still standing near the main doors but they decided to sing the rest of walk it out since it was unk's and the gang's song

jonesy jude wyatt fred joe fred sam nikki jen Samantha jack and oogie boogie : Westside walk it out southside walk it out eastside walk it out northside walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out Westside walk it out southside walk it out eastside walk it out northside walk it out they walk it on the east they walk it west

the southside just got it little side stuck in there in the club on the douche big stacks no flicks these suckers wanna try me tell them to low yeah

Jimmy (oogie boogie) cocks his ak

jonesy jude wyatt fred joe sam nikki jen Samantha jack and oogie boogie : he walk it in his war instead of smoking old fruits she walking with a friend I'll let us know douche so shit let it go they walk it on the floor great shoots double shots see let your body go my niggers on my side haters hate think it's funny I walk it on these niggers now getting to the money froze on them ho's I'm not talking about dancing oh came on the charm than it's handsy now walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out now walk it out walk it out Westside walk it out southside walk it out eastside walk it out northside walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out now walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out walk it out ok now do how you do it go and walk it out I said do it how you do it go and walk it out ok do how you do it go and walk it out I said do it how you do it go and walk it out walk walk walk walk walk now walk it out walk walk walk walk walk now walk it out walk walk walk walk walk walk now walk it out I said do it how you do it go and walk it out heeeeeey

BOOM!

With one last hit from the soul robber jimmy and Caitlin's bodies suddenly went rigid then they (or was it oogie) seemed to be yelling out in pain the gang watched in stunned horror as 2 giant shadow versions of oogie exited jimmy and Caitlin's bodies as jimmy and Caitlin themselves they collapsed on the ground to the gangs relief jimmy and Caitlin only seemed to be asleep the 2 shadow oogies began to melt into the ground

"Beginners luck if you ask me" he said as he melted "don't worry we'll meet again…"

Then it completely disappeared into the floor the gang and jack ran up to their sleeping friends surprisingly they didn't seem aware that jack had even hit them they just laid there snoring

"Jimmy and Caitlin look quite content despite being possessed and attacked," said jen

"Yeah like one of the shot-down monsters from jimmy's monster movies," said nikki

she climbed onto her two friends chest and grabbed them by the shirt

"they look so natural" she said to jack and the gang "jimmy Caitlin jimmy Caitlin oh jimmy Caitlin…" she said in her sweet lesbian voice then she shooked her friends "WAKE UP PRINCE CHARMING AND SLEEPING BEAUTY!"

jimmy and caitlin's eye's popped open they looked around the town hall then at the gang they smiled

"Hi guys!" Jimmy said "You made it!"

"Yeah just barely" said jonesy "I told you two to wait at the entrance of the woods you stupid assholes!"

"Jimmy Caitlin are you two aware that the two of you were possessed by oogie?" Sam asked handing jimmy his ak and handing Caitlin her Uzi "and that the entire town has been deserted within a five-block radius of the town hall?"

"Not only that" said jimmy "but me and Caitlin feel as though we've been possessed by oogie and that the entire town has been deserted within a five-block radius of the town hall

Then jimmy and Caitlin spotted the pumpkin king standing there

"Hi jack!" Jimmy said waving to him "cool bracelet"

"Jimmy are you saying you and Caitlin can't remember anything that happened?" asked jen

"Um hang on…" said Caitlin "we remember coming into Halloween town but there was nobody there"

"And we came into the big building behind the fountain to see if the two-face mayor was here but then me and caitlin suddenly fell asleep" said jimmy

"That must have been when they were possessed!" said jack

"The mayor wasn't here jimmy?" asked Wyatt

"No" said Caitlin "but we found a wooden pumpkin!"

"What" asked jonesy "jimmy caitlin there's no such thing as a wooden pumpkin!"

"is too!" said jimmy "see?" Then he turned around and picked something up

"OH!" Jack said when he saw what jimmy was holding

Jimmy and Caitlin held up a flat jack o' lantern carving for jack and the gang to see

"see?" Caitlin asked "we found it up here just before me and jimmy fell asleep"

"That's the Halloween holiday door!" exclaimed jack "now what in the world is that doing here?"


	4. Chapter 4 new weapons

"Man, I'm confused," said jonesy as the group exited the town hall. What exactly is going on?"

"Well, the most obvious thing is that it's very, very bad," said sam.

Jack looked over at his house. "Well, it doesn't look like they touched my house," he said. "We might as well go there so we can straighten all this out."

"If you say so…" said jonesy. He then decided to have some more orange chicken and white rice. But when he reached for the cup in his bag – like pouch on the left side of his belt, he didn't feel anything. Confused, jonesy began to pat his pouch bag and his pockets, but he didn't feel anything. "Where'd my chicken and rice go?" He frantically asked.

" You must have dropped it back at that fight with the skeletons," concluded jen.

"Oh no!" Said jonesy. He ran over near the fountain and began to crawl around on the ground, searching for his cup.

"Where'd it go?" jonesy said

"Here ya go, jonesy!" said jimmy

jonesy looked at jimmy . But what he was holding wasn't exactly what jonesy had in mind. "That's jack's bag dumbass!" He said. "Hey, why didn't they take jack's stuff? Why does everyone have to fuck with me?"

"Oh come now, jonesy," said jen. " Jimmy, you might as well put the Halloween holiday door in there we're going to need it."

"Can do, jen!" said jimmy. He took the Halloween holiday door he had been holding and stuck it in the bag. Then he slung the bag over his back.

"Hey, what's this?" Asked jack.

Jimmy and jen looked over at the pumpkin king. He was going to unlock his gate, when he had noticed a letter stuck to the gate.

Jimmy walked over and took the letter off. "Read to me what is on the pretty envelope, jen," he said handing the letter to jen.

"Forget the stupid envelope!" said jonesy, who had gone back to searching. "Help me find my stupid orange chicken and white rice cup!"

jen opened the letter and began to read out aloud. "Dear jack," she read. "Soon after you left, I held an assembly, and we began preparations for the most horrible Halloween yet! Chances are, once you return, the most terrifying and horrific Halloween this town has seen! Don't worry about a thing, jack Next year's Halloween is sure to not disappoint you. November 15, the mayor." Jen stared at the mayor's handwriting. "Well jack, it sure seems like the townspeople were doing their very best to please you."

"I know," said jack. "That's why I'm beginning to feel bad about leaving…"

"Well, my chicken and rice are gone," said jonesy, finally walking over. "Man, when I catch the motherfucker who took it…"

"Can we worry about that later, jonesy?" asked jen "we need to figure this out."

"Right," said jack "follow me, guys."

---

Jimmy and Caitlin were the first ones into jack's room on the top floor. It was safe to say that they were excited to actually be in the pumpkin king's house. They excitedly looked around at all the cool stuff.

"Jack, you gotta love your room," said jonesy who had already been in jack's house once before.

Jen, on the other hand, was appalled at how horribly cluttered the room was. "Messy, messy, messy…" she muttered

"It's almost a mess than your room fred." Said sam

This caused fred to punch sam in the arm

"ow" muttered sam

"Asshole" fred muttered

"I know," jack said sheepishly. "I'm a pack rat. I admit it." He made his way through the mess and sat down in his rocking chair. "So, let's review. What do we know so far?"

"Well, we know that oogie is back," said fred

"And we know that the town's been overrun by his lackeys," said jen.

"Jack your room is so cool!" jimmy awed as he proceeded to touch everything within his grasp.

"Uh… thank you, jimmy," said jack.

"Jimmy, don't touch!" said jen.

"Oh, it's all right," said jack. "You guys can make yourselves at home. Just ignore the mess."

"Sweet!" said jonesy, sitting down in a nearby chair.

Jack looked expectantly at jen, who had not moved from her spot.

"I'll stand," jen said shyly.

"Okay," said jack. "And what don't we know?"

"Well, I don't know where my rice and chicken is…" jonesy began.

"Besides that!" said jen.

"Oh," said jonesy. "we also know what the Halloween holiday door was doing in the town hall, if that's where jimmy and Caitlin really found it."

"Sure did, chief!" said jimmy.

"Quite a mystery, indeed…" said jack.

"Well, it doesn't seem to matter," said jen. "As long as those monsters are around, we don't have much of a chance. I mean we have weapons but I don't think it will be enough to kill all those monsters we need more weapons and that's a problem."

Jack suddenly sat up. "Maybe not…" he said. He stood up and began rummaging through his clutter.

"You guys are in luck," he said as he searched. "Somewhere in this mess are some old Christmas presents from last year I made. Perhaps they can be of use to us and you guys can use them as spare weapons for when your guns run out of ammo."

"No fooling?" asked jonsey.

"That is lucky!" said jimmy.

"Yeah," said jack. "Just start rooting around, guys. They're in this mess somewhere."

Jonesy decided to start by searching between the cushions of a recliner. When he pulled his hand back out, a black object rested in it.

"Hey, a yo-yo!" said jonesy, getting up. "I'm a whiz at these things. wanna see me walk the dog?" jonesy got the yo-yo ready and let it drop. But then he got a surprise. When the yo-yo hit the ground, spikes popped out of it! "WHOA!" jonesy jumped, causing the yo-yo to collapse. The spikes popped back into the yo-yo.

"Oh, jonesy!" said jack. "You found one of the toys! I call that one the yo-yo mace."

"Yeah?" asked jonesy. "Well, I'd prefer to have a toy that won't turn my hand into a fucking pincushion!"

"Oh, it won't hurt you," said jack. "The spikes pop out when the yo-yo comes in contact with another solid object, but not your hand! Genius, huh?"

"If you say so," said jonesy, winding the yo-yo mace up and starting again.

"I don't know, jack," said Sam as he sorted through the mess. "I question the structural integrity of that thing…oh, what's this?" Sam pulled a gray rattle out of the mess.

"Oh, I bet I know what that does!" said jimmy. "It turns you into a pirate!"

Sam looked at the rattle. "I guess that's one way to interpret the skull and crossbones…" he said, looking at the design. He

Gently shook the rattle. His face went pale when a ring of spikes popped out of it.

"There's another one," said jack.

"And what's this one called?" Sam asked while his free hand clutched his chest.

"The Death rattle," said jack.

Sam rolled his eyes when he realized the pun. "Death Rattle…" he mumbled. "Right-o. And you were seriously going to give this to a kid?" he asked jack on a more serious note. "Have you no moral fiber?"

"I found a bone!" jimmy said suddenly. The gang turned to look jimmy was wearing a helmet on his head that looked like it had been carved out of bone. "Cool huh?"

"Wow, you guys are good at this," said jack. "That's the last toy. It's called the bony helmet."

"Ooh, how creative," nikki said sarcastically

"The yo-yo mace, the Death rattle, and the bony helmet," said Sam. "you seriously think these things will withstand those monsters, jack?"

"Those monsters aren't that tough," said jack. "I mean, you saw how they crumbled when I hit them with my soul robber. I guarantee the success of those toys…and your guns as well,"

"Isn't that great?" asked jonesy. "We finally have more weapons, and they're toys."

"It's better than guns, isn't it?" jack asked as jimmy put away the bony helmet away in his bag-like pouch on the left side of his belt

"Hey, anything that will get my chicken and rice back works for me, pal," said jonesy.

"Well, now that we're prepared, I say we start searching the town for extra clues," said Sam.

"My thoughts exactly," said jack. He started toward the stairs "Lets go, guys. We're gonna get to the bottom of this. I'm sure of it."


	5. Chapter 5 the witching hour

Sam was nervously trembling as he, jack and the gang went back outside. And since the spikes on his death rattle popped out whenever he shook it, this made him even more nervous.

Jonesy looked at his friend. "Will you relax?" He asked Sam as jack closed his gate. "See? There's nobody here."

It was true. There weren't any skeletons in the streets for the time being. Sam finally calmed down long enough to stop trembling.

"Except for that little kid," said jimmy, pointing at the fountain.

And jimmy was right. Standing next to the fountain was a little boy with gray, clammy-looking skin. The weirdest thing was that his eyes appeared to be stitched shut.

"It's corpse kid!" exclaimed jack, running over to the boy.

"Corpse?" asked jen.

"CORPSE KID!" yelled jimmy. "MUST TOUCH!"

Corpse kid's face lit up when he saw (?) jack running toward him. "Jack!" he said. "You came back!"

"Geez, these people aren't used to having you gone, huh?" asked nikki.

"Good timing, too," said corpse kid. "I think the witch shop has just opened for the first time since you left." Corpse kid shivered. "Terrible things happened while you were gone, jack… terrible things."

"Yeah, we kinda figured that out when we first heard Oogie's voice after somebody stepped on that cat," said jonesy.

"The witch shop?" asked jen.

"Maybe the witches can give us a lead," said jack. "Come on!"

The gang began to follow jack, but they stopped when they realized that jimmy and Caitlin were still with corpse kid.

"Does it hurt to have your eyes stitched shut like that?" jimmy was asking corpse kid.

"Yeah does it hurt it would hurt me if my eyes were stitched shut" said Caitlin

"JIMMY CAITLIN!" The gang called all together.

"Oh?" that got jimmy and Caitlin's attention. He and Caitlin ran to catch up with the others. "Are we it?" jimmy asked as he and Caitlin ran.

"So, the witches have their own shop?" jen asked jack.

"Oh, yes," said jack. "It's the most successful business in town."

"Yeah, I bet," said jonesy as they all entered the shop.

The witches seemed to be waiting for them.

"Jack!" exclaimed the shorter witch. "You've returned!"

"Is it true?" asked jack. "The whole town is booby-trapped?"

"Oh…" said the taller witch. "It's too embarrassing to talk about. We brought this all upon ourselves…say, care to buy anything?" she quickly added. "We've got some prime heads and torsos, but they'll cost you an arm and a leg."

"Wow, get straight to the point, why don't you?" asked jonesy.

"You don't mean that "arm and a leg" thing literally, do you?" Sam asked nervously.

"You gotta question everything, don't you sam?" asked jonesy.

Jack had his attention turned toward the witches. "You two wouldn't happen to know where exactly the skeletons are coming from, would you?"

"No. Sorry," said the shorter witch. "We haven't been out of the house since they began appearing."

"You might want to try the graveyard for starters," said the taller witch. "I hear that there's a nasty infestation around those parts."

"It's a start, I suppose," said jack. "Come on, guys."

---

"So, which way is the graveyard?" asked Samantha as they exited the shop.

"Outside the main gate," said jack.

"Isn't that the same gate that shut behind us before?" asked Joe.

Jack's eyes widened. "Yes," he mumbled.

"Then it's probably still shut tight," said jen.

"Yep," said jimmy. "It's snug as a bug on a rug by a jug near a slug with a…"

"How would you know, monobrow?" asked jonesy. "You weren't even there."

At this point, the gang and jack were standing right in front of the gate.

"There must be some way to open it," said Sam.

"I think clown has the key," corpse kid said behind them.

Jack turned around. "Clown has the key," he repeated. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," said corpse kid.

"Oh!" jimmy suddenly exclaimed. He ran over to a nearby manhole cover. "fe fi fo fum, I smell cheese and onion buns," he said, pointing to the cover.

"What?" asked jack.

"Just ignore it, he'll stop," said Fred. "Jimmy, you're saying clown's down there?"

"In a sewer?" asked Sam.

"Well, that's certainly a good hiding spot," said jack. "But we need clown to open the gate. We have to go down there."

"Oh, so unsanitary…" Sam mumbled as jack took the cover off and climbed down.

"Is it my turn to jump down, jen?" jimmy asked as the others climbed down after jack.

"Uh…let me go down first, jimmy," said jen. She carefully began to climb down as well.

Jimmy stared for a minute, then… "Follow the leader!" he yelled, jumping in without even using the ladder.

---

jen stepped off the ladder just in time, because just as she got off, jimmy fell through.

"So where's clown?" asked Fred.

Jack looked around could just make out clown in the darker side of the sewer. "Hey, clown!" he called, beginning to run over.

Suddenly, clown let out a yelp, then wheeled his unicycle deeper into the darkness.

"What?" jack asked as he stopped running.

Just then, the same skeletons that had attacked before popped up out of the ground.

"Not here, too!" moaned Sam.

"Big deal," said jonesy. "We have new weapons now, remember?" He readied his yo-yo mace.

"Ha ha!" said jimmy, bending over. "I like to smash stuff!"

"Oh dear…" said Sam, taking out his death rattle. "Physical activity…"

"Get ready," said jack. "It might take some time to get used to the weapons, so you should probably…"

"ATTACK THE SKELETONS!" jimmy suddenly yelled, charging into the army. "SKELETONS AWAY!"

The others got out their guns out and began to shoot at the skeletons.

"Works for me!" said jonesy. He got ready to whip the yo-yo mace out… when it suddenly whipped out by itself! Jonesy watched as it flew across the room, around a group of skeletons, the tightened, squeezing the skeletons into dust. The spikes on the yo-yo mace retracted as it returned to jonesy's hand. "It can track things?" jonesy asked. "SWEET!"

Sam was suddenly surrounded, and resorted to covering his eyes with his free arm and spinning in a circle while shaking the rattle. When he opened his eyes again, there was nothing around him but a pile of dust. He smiled. Maybe he could get use to this thing.

Jimmy, meanwhile, was having a ball. He probably didn't even need the bony helmet. He was simply running around the room, slamming into the skeletons head-on. OUT OF THE WAY, CITIZEN!" He yelled as he ran past jack, who was smacking enemies with his soul robber.

"What'd he call me?" jack asked jonesy, pointing at jimmy.

"Ah, it's just something from one of his movies," said jonesy. "Like Fred said before, ignore it."

Soon, the room was empty again, and clown reappeared.

"Skeletons have been terminated, jonesy," jimmy panted

"Jack!" said clown. "You're back?"

"You can calm down now," said jack. "Everything's okay."

"I'm glad you guys are here," said clown. "I've had to hide ever since those skeletons came. Sure, I like a good scare every now and then, but those things bite!"

"Literally," added jonesy.

"We need you to unlock the main gate so we can get into the graveyard," said jack. "You have the key, right?"

"Yeah, I had it," said clown. "But when it became too dangerous, I ended up hiding it. Now, where did I put it? Uh… did I eat it? Uh… I'll open the gate for you as soon as I find it."

"I ate a key once," said jimmy. "Discreetly."

"I guess the only thing for us to do now is get out of here," said jack.

They ran back over to the ladder. The only problem was that it was too far away for them to climb back up.

"Now what?" asked Sam.

"See that?" asked jack. He pointed to a piece of the ladder that was sticking out. "We can latch onto that to get out of here." Jack arched down. "Soul robber!" he called out. The soul robber shot out and grabbed the hook, pulling jack up and out of the sewer.

"What about us?" yelled Sam.

Jonesy took out his yo-yo mace, and was surprised when it didn't do anything. "Uh… grab the hook?" he asked it. The yo-yo mace shot out of jonesy's hand and grabbed the hook. "WHOA!" jonesy yelled as he was shot up. Luckily, as he was being pulled up, Jude Wyatt Joe and Fred had grabbed his legs.

Caitlin suddenly grabbed Fred's legs and sprouted her cat ears and her cat tail "jimmy grab my tail." She said. Jimmy grabbed her tail and was being pulled up, nikki jen Sam and Samantha grabbed jimmy's legs.

---

When the gang and jack emerged from the sewer, they were greeted by another surprise. The skeletons were back on the surface. Corpse kid was nowhere to be found, so he had probably ran off to hide.

"Not again…" said Sam.

"At least there aren't as many," said jonesy.

"ATTACK THE SKELETONS AGAIN!" said jimmy, once again charging.

Jonesy was right. There weren't as many skeletons this time, so the team easily beat them. As soon as the last skeleton was destroyed, the team was met with the sound of the main gate opening. They looked and saw clown and corpse kid standing near the entrance.

"I got the gate open for you, jack," said clown as they ran over.

"But not before some of Oogie's baddies grabbed sally and carried her off toward the cemetery," added corpse kid. "I heard the cemetery's pretty dangerous these days. I hope she's okay."

"What?" jonesy asked in disbelief.

"They took sally?" asked jen.

"I think they took miss sally, guys," said jimmy.

Jack let out a light growl. "That's it," he said softly. "No more Mr. Nice bones!" he then ran out through the gate.

"Jack, wait up!" jonesy called as he and the others ran after the now very ticked-off pumpkin king.

But little did they know that a few certain somebodies were there as well…


	6. Chapter 6 the hanging tree

The gang and jack slowly entered the graveyard, which was filled with-you guessed it- tombstones.

"Oh dear," said Sam. "I always get nervous when I have to go through here."

"Yeah, I guess," said jonesy. "Somebody might feel claustrophobic surrounded by all these graves."

"It's actually quite homey once you get used to it," said jack.

"SQUAWK! SQUAWK!"

Jimmy seemed to have the right idea. He was now perched on top of one of the tombstones, his back hunched over, his arms flapping like wings. "I'm a vulture," he said to his friends. "SQUAWK! SQUAWK!"

"If only he had the brains of a vulture," said nikki.

"Well, jimmy's lack of sleep is evident once again," said Sam.

"Where to next, jack?" asked jonesy.

"Hey, look there," said jack, pointing off into the distance.

The gang looked. In the distance, there was a huge tree in the middle of the graveyard. But below it, there seemed to be a smaller tree with rope hanging off the branches. And did it have… a face?

"Maybe he can help us," said jack.

"Who's he?" asked jonesy.

"We have to keep moving," said jack. "Come on!"

"SQUAWK!" said jimmy.

But as the gang and jack moved through the maze of tombs, they found out that corpse kid was right about the cemetery being dangerous. Those crazy skeletons kept popping up all over the place! If the gang didn't have their new weapons, they might not have made it.

---

It took sometime, but the team finally got to the giant tree in the center of the cemetery. The smaller tree with the face turned around.

"Oh, jack!" said the tree. "You've finally returned?"

"Hello, hanging tree," said jack. He looked at the rope tied to the branches. "Hey, where are your hanging men?"

"Ever since Oogie's skeletons began to appear in the graveyard, my hanging men have begun to hide all over the cemetery," said the hanging tree. "I'm afraid hanging men aren't very brave."

"Then it seems we're both missing people," said jen. "We've lost sally."

"Hey, you haven't seen sally, have you?" asked jonesy.

"No, but maybe my hanging men have seen her," said the hanging tree.

"But how are we supposed to ask them if they're hiding?" asked wyatt.

"Hmm…" mumbled jack. "We could really use zero's nose at a time like this."

"Zero?" asked Wyatt. "Your dog?"

"I'll bet you'll find zero back in his grave, over at the entrance to the graveyard," said the hanging tree.

"Back at the entrance?" asked jonesy. "Why didn't we think of that before coming all the way over here?"

"Now, jonesy," said jen. "Be patient."

"ZERO'S GOT A NOSE, JONESY!" yelled jimmy. He began to run back to the entrance.

"JIMMY!" the gang yelled, running after their friend.

"Don't worry," said jack. "We'll find your hanging men." Then he ran after the gang.

---

The gang were panting heavily by the time they got back to zero's grave, but jack seemed just fine. Apparently he was in better shape than the gang.

"Geez, those skeletons just won't quit," said jen.

"And there's still no sign of my chicken and rice!" moaned jonesy.

"Where's zero's nose, jack?" asked jimmy.

"I'll get him right now," said jack. He walked over to zero's grave, and patted his lap twice. But nothing happened.

"What's the deal?" asked jonesy.

"I don't know," said jack. "Zero always comes when I call him."

"Maybe he'll come if we call him," said jen. She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Zero!" she called.

"Where are ya, mutt?" called jonesy.

"Got some BACON for ZERO!" called jimmy.

The gang looked at their friend.

"Oh, that's sure to work, jimmy," said jen.

"Yeah, monobrow," said jonesy. "You want everyone here to think we're a bunch of weirdos?"

_**Laa, la, la, la, la, laa!**_

_**La, la, la, la, laa!**_

_**Laa, la, la, la, la, la, la, laa!**_

_**La,la ,la, la ,la ,la ,la ,laa!**_

"Do you hear something?" asked jen.

"Oh man…" jonesy mumbled when he saw just who was coming toward them.

_**Hail to mister oogie!**_

_**Jack will never win!**_

When you find our booby traps They will do you in! 

A certain walking bathtub with three certain brats riding in it stopped right in front of the team. As the brats took off their masks, they each declared their name.

"Lock!"

"Shock!"

"Barrel!"

"It's the kidnappers of Santa!" jimmy exclaimed, taking out his ak-47 rifle.

"Hmm…" said jack. "I might have known."

"Welcome home, jack," said lock.

"How was your trip, jack?" asked shock.

"Are you having fun, jack?" asked barrel.

"With you three around?" asked jonesy. "Hell, no!"

"You three wouldn't have anything to do with Oogie's return, would you?" asked jack.

"Who…" began lock.

"…Us?" finished shock.

"Oh…uh…um…" mumbled barrel. Shock nudged him in the shoulder.

It was then jonesy noticed that an all-too-familiar looking cup was sitting next to barrel's feet…

"It's not too late," said jack. "Return this town to order."

"Immediately!" added jen.

"Why would we do that?" asked lock.

"The fun has just begun!" said shock.

"Only three brats, opinion," said jen.

"Besides, we're on a secret mission to stop you!" said barrel. "Don't tell anyone, though! Hee hee hee!"

"Ooh, ooh!" said jimmy. "I won't tell!"

Lock hit barrel on the head with his plunger, then jumped out of the bathtub, right in front of jack. "See you later!" shock said as she and barrel rode away in the walking bathtub.

"HEY, WAIT!" jonesy suddenly yelled, chasing after the bathtub. But before he could catch up, a giant metal fence popped up from the ground, surrounding the gang and lock.

"So, you and your weirdo friends are here too, huh jimmy and I see you brought your cat girl with you too?" lock seemed to be asking jimmy. "Fine!"

"Weirdo?" asked jonesy.

"Cat girl?" asked jen.

"I forget what we're doing," said jimmy.

"Now you'll have to play with me!" said lock putting his mask back on. As he swung his plunger, more skeletons rose from the ground.

"Oh, that's just what we need right now," said jonesy.

"CHARGE!" yelled jimmy, once again ramming into skeletons.

The others joined the fray, too. Though lock had seemed intimidating at first, in truth, he wasn't that brave. Since the skeletons simply smashed into dust when they hit or shoot them, it wasn't long before they were all gone. The metal fence sunk back into the ground.

"GET 'EM!" lock yelled. But nothing happened. "Huh? Where'd they all go?" when lock took off his mask to get a better view, all he saw was twelve sets of eyes glaring at him. "Sorry. I'll be good from now on," he said, putting one arm behind his back. "I promise! Gotta go!"

But jimmy and Caitlin knew better. They knew lock had his fingers crossed behind his back.

"HEY, WAIT!" jonesy yelled again as he watched lock runaway. He let out a groan.

"jonesy, I think those kids think that jimmy owns Caitlin as a pet cat girl," said Fred.

"Forget that!" said jonesy. "We need to get my chicken and rice back from those little thieves!"

"Your chicken and rice jonesy?" asked jen.

"Jonesy's chicken and rice cup was in that walking bathtub," said jimmy.

"They must have found it back in Halloween town," said jonesy. "I'm not resting until I get that chicken and rice back!" he declared.

"Yes, well, you can work on that," said jen. "In the meantime… jack, why don't you try calling zero again?"

Jack went back over to zero's grave, and once again patted his lap twice. This time, a small ghost dog with a jack o' lantern nose popped out, barking happily.

"There you are, zero!" said jack. "Come on. We need your help to find some hanging men."

Zero barked, meaning that he understood. He flew off back near the giant tree.

Sam thought of something. "Jimmy Caitlin maybe you too can assist us as well," he said. "You're both good at tracking things, right you can help us find the hanging men."

"Caitlin and me don't know what one looks like, Sam," said jimmy.

"Hmm, you're right," said Sam. "I know! We'll follow zero to the first one, then you can get the hanging men's scent, and help us find the rest!"

"Yeah, like that's going to work," said nikki.

"It worked with you and your cheap cologne, didn't it?" asked Sam.

"Cheap cologne?" asked jack.

"It's a long story," said nikki.

---

"Follow zero, follow zero, follow zero…" said jimmy as the team followed the little ghost dog to the first hanging man. As it turns out, it was cowering behind one of the walls not too far from the giant tree.

"We'll take care of Oogie's lackeys," jack calmly explained. "You get back on back to the hanging tree."

Before it did, jimmy and Caitlin got a good whiff of it, and soon they were taking off just as fast as zero.

"Geez guys, wait up, will ya?" jonesy called to jimmy and Caitlin as he, and the others ran to catch up. They just caught jimmy Caitlin and zero entering a gate that led to another part of the graveyard.

When the gang and jack finally caught up, they found jimmy Caitlin and zero circling a small gap near a bridge. When they looked down, there was another hanging man, hanging from a branch that was sticking out.

"I'm sorry, but we haven't got time to play hide and go shriek," said jack. "It's time to go back to the hanging tree."

"Hide and go…. What?" asked jonesy.

"You've never heard of it?" asked jack as jimmy Caitlin and zero took off again.

"Well, yes, but…" jen began. "Oh, never mind."

The next hanging man was hiding behind a thick patch of weeds which jack had to break with the soul robber.

"Wow, that's strong," said jonesy.

"This area is safe now," said jack. "You can go on back to the hanging tree."

The next one was a little tougher. It was across a ledge that could only be reached by a hooked branch. Zero flew across easily, but jimmy and Caitlin couldn't fly, so they just pointed in the right direction. Since the soul robber and the yo-yo mace could grab onto branches, jack and jonesy swung across. They walked over to the hanging man dangling from the tree.

"It wasn't easy finding you," said jack.

"I'll say it wasn't," said jonesy, looking at how deep the ledge was.

"Go on back to the hanging tree," said jack.

After jack and jonesy swung back over, jimmy Caitlin and zero were off again. They seemed to be leading the others all the way back to the first part of the graveyard.

"Where'd they go?" jack asked as they returned through the gate.

"There!" said Sam, pointing to the giant tree.

"But that's back where we started!" protested jonesy.

"Well, you never know," said jack. "Come on!"

When the gang got to the giant tree, they just saw jimmy and Caitlin climbing back down. The last hanging man had been hiding at the top of the tree, and jimmy and Caitlin had climbed up and got it. The only problem was that the hanging man was latched tightly onto Caitlin's cat tail.

"Don't be afraid," said jack. "It's time to go back to the hanging tree."

"Is that it?" jonesy asked as the last hanging man went back to the hanging tree.

"It should be," said jack. "He has five in all."

"Then we got them all," said jen. "Good work, jimmy and Caitlin."

But when they looked over at jimmy and Caitlin, they saw them just standing there, smacking their faces into the ground.

"We're woodpeckers!" jimmy exclaimed between smacks. "cept with dirt!"


	7. Chapter 7 grave danger

After jack and the gang stopped jimmy and Caitlin from doing their dirt pecker impression, the team headed back to talk to the hanging tree.

"Thank you for finding my hanging men, guys," said the hanging tree. "Without them, I wouldn't be much of a hanging tree, would I?"

"Yeah, that's all well and good," said jonesy. "What I want to know is where all these stupid skeletons are coming from."

"I noticed that some of the tombstones in the graveyard are overturned," said the hanging tree. "The skeletons might be coming from there."

"So all we have to do is put the tombstones back up?" asked jen.

"Yes, that should work," said jack.

"But they're probably all over the place!" said jonesy. "It'll take too long if we have to put them all back one by one!"

"Well, how many of them are there?" asked Joe.

"Eight," said jimmy.

"Yeah eight." Said Caitlin.

Jack and the gang stared at jimmy and Caitlin

"Jimmy Caitlin how did you both know that?" asked jen.

"We counted them all when zero's nose and me and Caitlin were searching for the hanging guys," said jimmy. "Are we good or what?"

"What makes you and Caitlin so special?" asked jonesy.

"We eat cereal, jonesy," jimmy beamed.

"Well, if there are eight, we should be able to do four each if we split up," said jack. "You guys will do fine without me, right?"

"Are you kidding?" asked jonesy. "We can defend ourselves. We're on the case!"

"And while you're doing that, I'll see if any of my hanging men seen sally," said the hanging tree.

"Good plan," said Sam.

"Jimmy, those tombstones are probably heavy, so we need you to hoist them up while jen and I pull," said jonesy.

"Jimmy?" asked jimmy. "I'll go get him, jonesy." He then grabbed the others and they ran off to the first tombstone.

"We'll meet back at the giant, okay?" jack called after them.

---

It wasn't long before they got to the first tombstone, which was a few feet away from the giant tree.

"Now what?" asked jen.

"Jimmy, you get on the other side and push," jonesy ordered. "Jen, help me wrap the yo-yo around the stone so we can pull it up."

"Can do, jonesy," said jimmy, running to the top of the tombstone, and beginning to push.

"I'm surprised with you, jonesy," said Jen.

"What?" asked jonesy.

"Why, just a few years ago, you wouldn't even think about helping us out like this," said jen. "And now you're doing your fair share. Why the change of heart?"

"Well, a lot has changed in the past few years," said jonesy.

"Like meeting jack?" asked jen.

"Sort of…" jonesy as he and jen began to pull.

"What exactly happened last year when you two were riding in the sleigh?" asked jen.

"Oh…" jonesy paused. Honestly, he didn't really want to talk about what he and jack found out about the map of Halloween town. "Nothing big happened," he said finally. "I just finally decided to come out from hiding, jack started giving his presents out, we talked a little, then we were shot down. Nothing big."

"What did you talk about?" asked jen.

"…Stuff," said jonesy.

Jen looked at her friend. "Stuff," she repeated.

"Yeah, just stuff you don't need to know about, all right?" asked jonesy.

"Well, I'm still curious," said jen. "But if you don't want to talk about it, I respect your decision, jonesy."

"Really?" asked jonesy. "Uh… thanks."

At that point, the gang moved the tombstone just enough so that it shifted back into place.

"Jimmy's not here, jonesy," said jimmy.

"Uh… yeah," said jonesy. "Come on. We need to find three more tombstones and meet up with jack. We've still got sally to find, you know."

"Oh, I hope she's okay," said jen. "But why are you interested, jonesy?"

"Geez, I can't be worried about my friends?" asked jonesy. "Sally's a good person! She doesn't deserve to be taken away."

"Oh dear…" Sam suddenly mumbled as he turned around.

And he had a good reason to. The gang were surrounded by skeletons!

"I'm afraid we'll have to put this conversation on hold," said Sam, taking out his death rattle.

"Fine by me," said jonesy.

"ATTACK!' yelled jimmy.

---

To make a long story short, the gang made quick work of the skeletons, and ran off to find the remaining three tombstones. They quickly realized that every time they put a tombstone back, a batch of skeletons would pop up. Luckily, thanks to their guns and new weapons, the gang were just fine through the whole thing. It took them a while, but they finally got their remaining three tombstones back into place.

The gang also realized how terribly out of shape they all were. They were panting heavily when they got back to the giant tree to wait for jack.

"I got four of the tombstones put back in place," jack said when he returned. "How about you all?"

"Four tombstones present and accounted for," jimmy gasped, since he wasn't panting as heavily.

"Yeah dude," said Jude.

"Thank you so much, guys," said the hanging tree. "Now that you're here, Halloween town will be back to it's old self."

"That's what we're hoping for," jonesy said as he and the others stood up.

"And I have good news," said the hanging tree. "One of the hanging men just told me he heard a woman singing from under the ground.

"Under the ground?" asked Wyatt.

"It's a cannibalistic alien or predator!" exclaimed jimmy.

"Now jimmy, let's not start that again!" said jen. "Oh!" she was surprised when she felt something tap the back of her head. When she turned around, she found a folded piece of paper at her feet.

"What's that, jen?" jonesy asked as jen picked up the paper.

Jack gasped. "It's a paper plane from sally!" he exclaimed. He reached out to take it, but the plane suddenly disappeared in jen's hands. "Where did that come from, jen?" jack asked.

"Well, from what I could tell…" jen began to calculate. "The plane must have came from that direction," she concluded, pointing.

The hanging tree looked in the same direction. "Down that way lies the underground burial chamber," he said.

"The burial chamber?" asked jonesy.

"It's the largest grave in this area," the hanging tree explained. "It's infested with spiders and cobwebs. Oh, how romantic."

"Uh, yeah. Sure…" jonesy mumbled. Then he cringed.

"Yes!" said jack. "That's where sally must be!" he began running in that direction, the gang sprinting behind him. As they ran, all of them couldn't help but be excited.


	8. Chapter 8 the crypt keeper

"I bet sally's gonna be happy to see you, jack!" said jonesy.

"And I'll be glad to see her too," said jack. "I really missed her while I was gone."

"Ooh!" said jimmy, skipping to a stop. "What's that I see?"

By this time, the team was right in front of the bridge that led to the other part of the graveyard. Jimmy ran up and picked something up off the ground. He ran back to jen.

"Read to me what is on miss sally's paper plane, jen," said jimmy.

"Another one?" asked jonesy.

"Well, at least this one actually has something written on it," said jen. She unfolded the paper and began to read.

"Jack, hurry up and come back to town! Lock, shock, and barrel brought Oogie back to life, and he's taken over Halloween town! The skeletons that are probably attacking you now were made by dr. finkelstein and are being controlled by Oogie. These skeletons were specifically designed to stop you at all costs, and they will stop at nothing to track you down!"

"Jack's eyes widened. Jen's jaw dropped when she stopped reading. The others didn't seem to know what to do. Jonesy broke the silence.

"I always knew that doc was a prick," said jonesy.

"Jonesy, the doctor doesn't look anything like a brick wall," said jack.

"No," said jonesy. "Prick means… ah, forget it."

"Well, that explains why these skeletons are so bent on getting rid of us," said Sam.

"We'd better hurry and find sally," said jack.

"Right!" said the gang.

The team quickly crossed the bridge to the other side. But just as the underground burial chamber was in their sights…

"Why do you always have to spoil our fun?" 

The team stopped. They definitely knew that voice.

"This is the last time you'll get in our way!" lock yelled, jumping out from behind a tombstone.

"What, again?" jonesy asked as another metal fence surrounded them.

"Hey, this time lock's inside the fence with us," Sam noticed.

"ATTACK THE KIDNAPPER OF SANTA!" jimmy yelled, charging.

"Jimmy, no, wait!" yelled jen.

But it was too late. Jimmy was flailing all over the place, while the others had to deal with the skeletons lock had summoned. Just as the last skeleton was destroyed, jimmy's head connected with lock. Both boys toppled to the ground, incredibly dizzy.

"Cool!" jimmy yelled as the metal fence sunk back into the ground. "Let's do it again."

"NOT again!" said jonesy.

Clunk.

"Hey, did something just unlock in that building?" Sam asked, pointing to the burial chamber.

Jack kneeled down in front of lock.

"You win this time, jack," said lock.

"There won't be a next time," said jack.

"Of course not, jack," said lock, putting his arm behind his back. "Whatever you say." Then he ran off again. Jimmy flipped off lock while lock wasn't looking and Caitlin stuck her tongue out at lock while he wasn't looking.

"I think we can go in there now!" said Sam, pointing to the burial chamber.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" asked jonesy. "Let's go in there and get sally!"

---

When the team entered the first part of the chamber, they learned that the hanging tree was right about the spiders and cobwebs. They were all over the place. It took all of jonesy's strength to keep from gagging as they made their way through the mess.

They finally made it to the door on the other side of the room, jack went in first, with the gang slamming the door shut behind them.

"Man, I hate spiders," said jonesy, shuddering.

"They're actually quite fascinating when you get used to them," said Sam.

"Yeah, to you," said jonesy. "But they bug me."

Jack meanwhile took a few steps forward, then he stopped. He grinned.

"Sally!"

"Jack!"

The gang turned around just in time to see jack and sally running toward each other. They were overjoyed!

"Yes!" Fred, giving Sam a high-five.

Jack and sally met in the middle of the room. Jack reached for her hands. "Sally…"

"Jack…"

"Jimmy!" said jimmy.

"Caitlin!" said Caitlin.

This caused jonesy to smack jimmy and Caitlin on the back of the head, and Sam to shush him. As Sam turned back to the heartwarming scene before him, he happened to glance upward. Then he froze.

"GYYYAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Sam's sudden shriek caught the attention of everyone else. They looked up and saw that Sam had a good reason to scream. The biggest spider that any of them had ever seen was sitting on the ceiling, just above jack and sally!

Suddenly, sally was jerked upwards. "AAAH!" she gasped.

"What's this?" asked jack. He could just make out that something that looked like spider silk had been wrapped around sally's body.

Then the spider jumped down with a THUD. Then it roared in jack's face.

"Aw, shit!" groaned jonesy. "That's exactly what we need right now."

Caitlin was so scared she sprouted her cat ears and her cat tail and meowed like a real cat.

"SMASH THE SPIDER!" yelled jimmy.

Sam looked worriedly up at sally. "Patience, sally!" he called. "We'll free you!"

As jack and the gang readied their weapons, sally began to sing. And the gang couldn't help but join in.

Sally: **we should have known not to believe and things would not have turned so bad**

Jack: **it's true his plan was to deceive but that should not make you so sad**

Sally:** but danger waits at every turn**

The gang: **and we are ready to set things right here**

Sally: **how can you say that you will be okay? And come back another day?**

---

"Sally, I'm here," said jack. "You're safe now."

"Jack!" said sally.

---

Sally:** what will become of our dear town? Now what we've let our leader down**

Jonesy: what?

Jack:** you know, dear sally, that's not true we can take this town back, me and you**

Sally:** there's so much danger yet to face**

The gang:** but we're not worried**

Jack:** back home I hurried**

Jack, sally, and the gang: **now we must stop that evil Oogie's scheme and save our Halloween**

---

By this time, the spider was about half its original size. But it still standing.

"This is tougher than I thought…" said jack.

"Tired…" said Sam. "So tired…"

"You can do it, jack!" said sally.

"I'm helping too, miss sally!" said jimmy. "Cause I have a bony helmet!"

---

Sally:** we should have known not to believe and things would not have turned so bad**

Jack: **it's true his plan was to deceive but that should not make you so sad**

Sally:** but danger waits every turn**

The gang: **and we are ready to set things right here**

Sally: **how can you say that you will be okay? and come back another day?**

"You're really making me angry…" jack growled at the spider.

"The only good spider is a squashed spider!" declared jonesy.

"Jack, watch out!" said sally.

---

Sally:** what will become of our dear town? Now that we've let our leader down**

Jonesy: what?

Jack:** you know, dear sally, that's not true we can take this town back, me and you**

Sally:** there's so much danger yet to face**

The gang:** but we're not worried**

Jack:** back home I hurried**

Jack, sally, and the gang:** if we work hard we'll overcome our shame and beat him at his game**

Now the giant spider was about the size of a regular spider, due to the jack and the gang smacking and shooting it around so much.

"One more good hit ought to do it!" said Sam.

"Hold on, sally!" said jack. Then the soul robber began to glow bright green.

"JACK!" yelled sally.

"Soul robber!" said jack, whipping it out and grabbing the spider. Then he began to swing the soul robber in a circle, picking up speed with each spin. "I am the pumpkin king! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" then, when he was at top speed, jack flung the spider at the wall.

BOOM!

"HA!" said jonesy, running over to the spider, followed by the others. "How do you like that, you nasty spider? That's what you get for fucking with me and my friends!" jonesy turned around chuckling, but then his face turned to pure horrer. The rope holding sally was just about to snap! "JACK!" yelled jonesy, pointing.

"SALLY!" jack yelled. He ran as fast as he could to catch her. Just then, the rope snapped.

"I can't look!" said the gang except jimmy, covering their eyes.

Jimmy, on the other hand, watched as jack made it just in time. Sally landed safely in his outstretched arms.

"Miss sally's fine," said jimmy. The gang peeked through their fingers.

"Jack…" said sally.

The gang let out big sighs of relief.

"Geez, give us heart attacks, why don't you?" asked jonesy, shifting his weight so he could lean on the wall. However, he wasn't quite close enough, so he landed on the ground. But as he did, something fell out from behind one of the tombstones in the room.

"OH!" said Sam, picking it up. Then the gang had smug little grins on their faces.

"What?" asked jack.

"If this isn't irony, I don't know what is," said jonesy.

Then they held up their prize for jack and sally to see. Jack gasped.

The gang were proudly displaying the valentines day holiday door.

---

Later, jack, sally, and the gang were back at the giant tree in the center of the graveyard, along with the hanging tree and zero.

"Are you all right, sally?" asked jack.

"Oh, jack," said sally. "You came back!"

"Well, duh," said jonesy. "He got your note!"

Sally took something out of her pocket. "You have to rescue dr. finkelstein!" she said to jack and the gang. "This key opens the gate to his manor."

Sam took the key.

"Thanks, sally," said jack. "…I'm glad you're safe," he added shyly.

"We're all safe," said sally. "Now that our pumpkin king has returned."

The gang nodded in agreement.

"Pumpkin king?" asked jack. "Sally that's it!"

"What's it?" asked sally.

"Yes, please enlighten us, jack," said Sam.

"I am the pumpkin king!" said jack. "And I can use my pumpkin fire to fight Oogie and his army good thinking, sally!"

"Thank you, jack," said sally.

"No," said jack. "Thank you, sally."

The gang couldn't take it anymore. They burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry…" Sam gasped.

"You two are so cute together!" said Caitlin.

"Jack and miss sally sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-NG!" jimmy sang.


	9. Chapter 9 the doctor's hunch

After the gang finally stopped laughing, they, along with jack, began to make their way to the doctor's lab.

But as they were about to leave, sally remembered something. "Just before you go inside the doctor's lab, could you come back here?" she asked the gang. "Something concerns me…"

The gang promised that they would.

---

"I don't get it," jack said as they made their way back to the center of Halloween town. "Sure, the doctor is difficult sometimes, but he would never want to hurt anybody."

"Ah, chances are that Oogie probably did something to him, too," said jonesy.

"That's actually a strong possibility," said Sam. "Who knows what else Oogie might have done."

"He put monsters in the pumpkins!" exclaimed jimmy.

"Yeah!" said Caitlin.

"What?" asked jonesy.

"Before me and Caitlin went into the big building, we went over there, in the field with a bunch of pumpkins," said jimmy, pointing to another gate which led to the pumpkin patch. "But then a bunch of ghosts popped out of them, and we couldn't go through. They are bad."

"Then I guess we'll have to go there after we deal with the doctor," said jack.

"And figure out a way to get rid of those possessed pumpkins," said Sam.

"There's the gate that leads to the doctor's lab," said jack, pointing to another gate. "We need the key to open it."

"Way ahead of you," said Sam, taking out the key. He ran over to the gate and unlocked it. "Oh, I do hope the doctor listens to reason."

"Well, the way things are now, something tells me that's not going to happen," said jack, walking through the gate.

"Oh dear…" mumbled Sam, as he adjusted his glasses.

"Ah, this'll be a piece of cake," said jonesy, following jack. "And we might even find my chicken and rice!"

"Chicken and rice, guys!" said jimmy, pulling the others in behind him.

---

"I hope the doctor's okay…" jack said as they entered the area around the lab.

"I think he was expecting us," said Sam.

Sam thought right. A fence made of electricity was guarding the entryway that led up to the doctor's laboratory.

"How the hell do we get through that?" asked jonesy.

"Ohh! Ohh! I saw this in a movie once!" said jimmy. "Somewhere around here is a lever to turn the power off!"

"Then we'll all have to split up and look for it," said jack. "It has to be around here somewhere. Just be careful, guys. There's bound to be other surprises lurking around here."

"Normally, I wouldn't find it wise to go along with jimmy's ideas…" said Sam. "But since this is a desperate time, it seems we have no choice."

"Then let's find this lever or whatever so we can go up there and knock some sense into the doc!" said jonesy.

---

While jack, jimmy jonesy Fred Joe and Samantha stuck around the gate, jen Wyatt Sam nikki Caitlin and Jude found themselves traveling north, where a big metal structure stood. When they got to the base of it, they were surprised to find stairs that led up.

"Maybe we'll find something up there…" Sam thought out loud. But just then, more skeletons popped up from the ground, much to Sam's horror. The doctor wasn't taking any chances!

So Sam did exactly what he did before: readied his death rattle, covered his eyes, and charged forward right into the army and up the stairs. When he reached the top, he looked behind him. Then he grinned. There wasn't a skeleton left.

"My battle strategy seems to be working quite well," Sam said in satisfaction. He looked around the upper level. "Hello?" there was a part of the structure that seemed to be boarded off.

"That's strange…" said Sam, walking over to the boarded-off wall. He made a quick calculation, then readied the death rattle again. "I have to hit it in just the right spot…" Sam mumbled then, with all his might (and that wasn't a lot), he slammed the death rattle into the boards. Bulls eye.

The boarded wall instantly broke, revealing what was on the other side. Sam's eyes widened. It was a lever! "Well, at least jimmy's smart about something…" said Sam. Then, without hesitation (which was very unlike him), he walked up and pulled on the lever.

Sam heard the sound of something turning off behind him. He turned around and saw the electricity fences shutting off. He gave a triumphant grin.

So then why did it feel like him and the others were floating?

They all looked down at their feet. The their surprise, there was no longer any floor underneath their feet!

Oh dear…" Sam mumbled again. Then Caitlin fell through the hole first, screaming the whole time. Then the others fell in the hole screaming as well.

They didn't have no idea what was happening. They seemed to be falling through a tube that was leading them somewhere. But where?

Just then, they found themselves being shot up straight up, and when they landed, there was a solid ground once again under them. But they couldn't tell exactly where they were. They were to dizzy. But they saw Caitlin she seemed to be sitting down in a big bird cage she wasn't scared she was sitting down with that smile on her face and wiggling her cat ears and wagging her tail.

Sam let out a daze mumble because he and the others were still dizzy. "Oh dear…look at the time…gotta go…ta-ta."

"Ahem."

The gang immediately went into focus and shot up straight up when they heard the new voice. They knew where they had heard it before…

"Doctor!" Sam exclaimed. He took a quick look around. He and the others seemed to be in the doctor's laboratory! "Oh doctor, thank goodness! It's me, Sam, Caitlin jen nikki, Wyatt and Jude remember?"

"All too well…" said the doctor.

Nikki jen wyatt jude and sam looked at the doctor. His back was turned to the two girls and three boys. "Yes…well…" Sam tried again. "Listen, doctor, jack and my four friends jimmy jonesy Joe Fred and my sister Samantha, are here too. We're worried about you, and we demand to know why you've created these monstrosities to run amok in Halloween town!"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that right now…" said the doctor. He then wheeled himself around so he was facing the gang.

The doctor's stare frightened the gang. Then they got even more freaked out when they realized that the doctor was slowly wheeling himself closer to where the gang were standing!

"Uh…doctor…t think at this time I would like to point out that we have limits to personal space…." Sam stammered, slowly beginning to back away. "A penny for your thoughts?" that's when Sam's back met the wall. He couldn't take care his stare off the doctor. He was reaching for something. What was it?

Sam's eye's widened when he realized just what the doctor was reaching for. He held the death rattle in his shaky hands.

"Now, doctor…let's not do anything hasty. I wouldn't want to have to use this…don't make me want to use this, doctor! Listen, can't we talk about this? Oh dear. Oh…NO, NOT THAT! MOMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

---

"Guys!" jonesy called his friends. Where the fuck are you guys at?"

"Guys!" called jack.

Back down below, the five boys and Samantha definitely noticed when the electricity fences seemed to shut off by themselves. But then they also noticed that the others were missing! Now they were frantically looking for him. Jonesy jack Joe Fred and Samantha once again stayed by the entrance, while jimmy journeyed up the trail that led to the doctor's house.

"Found Jude!" jimmy suddenly called.

Jonesy Fred Joe and Samantha followed their friend's voice up the path to the doctor's house. But what they saw wasn't exactly what they had expected.

The man next to jimmy was definitely not Jude. He was just an ugly little humpbacked man and was short with only one eye open. He was dressed in a laboratory garb as well.

"You idiot!" jonesy barked at jimmy. "Does that look like Jude to you?" he asked, pointing to the humpbacked man.

Jimmy looked at the humpbacked man carefully and thought for a second. "Maybe with a hat?" he asked.

Jonesy groaned.

That's when jack ran up. He knew who the humpbacked man was.

"Igor!" he said to the humpbacked man. "Where's dr. finkelstein?"

"Sorry, Igor under strict orders," said Igor. "Not let anyone pass."

"But we're here to rescue the doctor from Oogie!" protested jack.

"Sorry," said Igor. "But master said if Igor let anyone pass, no biscuit!" then he groaned in pain. "Ohh…Igor starving!"

"Oh, brother…" jonesy groaned.

"Th-the witch shop…" said Igor. "You bring Igor biscuit, huh?"

"Okay, Igor," said jack. "If we bring you a biscuit, you'll let us pass?"

"Yes! Igor do for jack and jack's friends!" said Igor. "Hurry! Igor starving!"

"What about the others?" asked jonesy.

"We have other things to worry about right now," said jack, heading back toward the gate.

"Man… first my chicken and rice, now the others?" asked jonesy. "What next?"

"Your bathing suit model magazines?" asked jimmy. "Oh… I guess you already lost those."

"Don't remind me…" said jonesy.

---

"Back at the witch shop," said jimmy.

"This better be worth it," said jonesy.

"It will," said jack.

CLANG!

"Now what?" jonesy asked, turning around. The gate leading back into the center of Halloween town had closed behind them!

"Hey, jack!"

jonesy winced at the voice.

"I don't think you'll find me as forgiving as lock!"

Shock jumped out behind the wall, followed by lock and barrel.

"I let you win before!" said lock.

"Quiet, you!" said barrel, hitting his cohort.

"Time for some help!" said shock as lock and barrel ducked back behind the wall. She put on her mask back on. This time, instead of skeletons, ghosts began popping up from the ground. "GET EM!"

"Aw, man…" grumbled jonesy.

"Don't worry, jonesy!" said jimmy. "I can take em, cause I got a bony helmet!" he charged into the ghost army.

"Yeah," said jack, readying his soul robber. "This won't take long."

"Whatever…" said jonesy, swinging his yo-yo mace.

Thanks mostly to jimmy's charge tactics, soon enough, all the ghosts were gone.

Shock took her mask off. There weren't any ghosts to be seen. "Huh? Where'd they all go?" jimmy, jonesy, Fred, Joe, Samantha and jack glared at her. "TIME TO SCRAM!" shock suddenly shouted, diving behind the wall.

"Hey, hold on!" said jonesy, running over to the wall. "GIVE ME MY RICE AND CHICKRN BACK!"

"That girl reminds me of my older sister," said jimmy.

"Yes, well, I think we have more important things to worry about," said jack, entering the witch shop.

But before jimmy, jonesy, Joe, Fred and Samantha could enter, jack was back outside.

"That was quick," said jonesy.

"They don't have anymore," said jack.

"What?" asked jonesy.

"But they said corpse kid has some," said jack. "Let's go ask him for some."

"Way ahead of you!" said jonesy, running off.

"Wait up, jonesy!" called jimmy. He Joe Fred Samantha and jack ran after their friend.

Jonesy got to corpse kid first. "Hey, kid!" he said. "Hand over the biscuits!"

"Jonesy, don't be rude," jack said as he caught up.

"What?" asked corpse kid. "You want my biscuit? No way! These are mine!"

"Okay!" said jimmy. He began to walk away.

Jonesy stopped jimmy then went back to rubbing his temples. When would this end?

"My fine boy," jack said calmly. "I need that biscuit to save the doctor from Oogie boogie's clutches!"

"And get my chicken and rice back!" added jonesy.

"And the others, too!" added jimmy.

"Oh…" said corpse kid. "But this biscuit's mine! Well… I guess you guys need it more than me…I know! I'll give you guys need it more than me…I know! I'll give you guys my biscuit if you can pass my quiz! It's about Halloween town, so it should be easy for you, pumpkin king!"

"Yeah, for him," said jonesy.

"Aw, come on, jonesy!" said jimmy. "Quizzes are fun!"

"Yeah, for you," said jonesy.

"Question one," said corpse kid. "What day is Halloween?"

"October 31," said jack.

"That's right!" said corpse kid. "Question two: how many hanging men does the hanging tree have?"

"Five!" said jimmy. "I know that cause me and Caitlin counted them!"

"That's right! question three: what color is the water in the Halloween town fountain?"

Fred looked at the fountain. "I'm gonna give a wild guess," he said. "Green?"

"That's right question four: what is the main ingredient used for Halloween?"

"Thrills and chills," said jack.

"That's right! Question five: what is the name of the town jack lives in?"

"Halloween town," they said together.

"That's right! question six: how many fingers does jack have on one hand?"

jonesy looked at jack's hands. "Four?"

"That's right! question seven: what is jack's last name?"

"Skellington!" said jimmy. "Jack skellington's the pumpkin king!"

"That's right! question eight: St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day, and New Year's Day. Which one doesn't have it's own holiday door?"

"New year's day," said Samantha.

"That's right! Question nine: what color is sally's hair?"

Jack smiled. "Red," he said.

"That's right! Question ten: how many bolts are on doctor finkelstein's head?"

jonesy Joe Fred and Samantha's eyes widened how were they supposed to know that? Even jack was a little perplexed on this one. Who would know…

"Eight!" jimmy suddenly blurted out.

Jonesy Fred Joe Samantha and jack looked at their friend.

"That's right!" said corpse kid.

Jonesy Fred Joe Samantha and jack's jaws dropped.

"Jimmy, I don't even want to know how you knew that," said jack.

"Show-off," jonesy grumbled.

"Let's see what you know," said corpse kid. "Unreal! A perfect score! Way to go, guys! A deal's a deal. Here's my biscuit!"

"About time," jonesy said as jack took the biscuits.

"Come on! Said jack. "We need to take these to igor!"

"And get my chicken and rice back!" said jonesy.

Jimmy Joe Fred Samantha and jack glared at their friend.

"…And save the doctor and find the others," jonesy quickly added. "Sheesh…"


	10. Chapter 10 the lighting round

Jonesy, jimmy, Fred, Joe, Samantha and jack watched as Igor chomped down on a biscuit.

"Ooh…biscuit tastes good!" said Igor.

"Now, Igor," said jack. "You promised to move aside."

"Igor keeps his promise," said the little humpbacked man, moving out of the way.

Jack and the remaining five teenagers began to continue down the path, but as they were about to climb the stairs that led to the doctor's lab…

ZAP!

A big bolt of lighting shot out from the rod at the top of the building and came crashing down at high speed, just missing jonesy.

"HOLY, MOTHERFUCKER!" jonesy yelled as he, and the others jumped back. He looked at the rod on the top of the lab. "WHAT THE FUCK?"

"Zappity zap zap?" asked jimmy.

Jack looked at Igor, who was covering his head. "Where is that thing getting its power from?"

"Doctor have big generator behind the door over there," Igor answered, motioning to the big door behind him. "Jack smash circuit with some thing to make lighting stop!"

Jack looked at the rod. "I bet that won't stop it for long," he thought out loud. "We'd better get back quick, or we're fried."

"Yeah, that's all well and good," said jonesy. "But if that thing doesn't fry us, the doc probably will."

"Any monster a weakness it will have," said jimmy.

"Jimmy's right…sort of," said jack. "Every monster has a weak point. We just need to find out the doctor's."

"Well, who knows the doc better than anyone else?" asked jonesy.

They began to think. Then jack and jonesy's eyes lit up at the same time.

"SALLY!" they said together.

"Hey, jack," said jonesy. "Didn't sally say she wanted to talk to you anyway?"

"Hey, you're right!" said jack. "I bet sally knows something that we can use to save the doctor."

"Oh yeah?" asked jimmy. "My dad has a m16 assault rifle."

---

Sally's eyes lit up when she saw jack and the five teenagers approaching. "Oh, jack!" she said. "You remembered to come back to me!"

"Yeah, just barely," said jonesy.

"What you said before kind of worried me…" said jack.

"It's about the doctor, jack," said sally. "If he tries to… harm you, use the sleeping soup to knock him out."

"Sleeping soup?" asked jonesy. "Where the hell do we get that?"

"I can make it for you," said sally. "But I need the ingredients first. You guys will get them for me, right?"

"Can do, miss sally," said jimmy.

That's when sally noticed something different about the gang. "Hey, where are nikki Caitlin jen Jude Wyatt and Sam?"

"We lost them when we entered the doc's territory," said jonesy.

Sally gasped. "Oh dear…" she said. "The doctor must have taken them. Who knows what he'll do to your friends?"

"Hmm… I see your point," said jack. "We'd better get up there, and fast! What are the ingredients for the soup, sally?"

"Here," said sally, handing jack a piece of paper. "I wrote them down for you so you can look at them later."

"So this sleeping soup will make it easier to save the doc?" asked Fred.

"It should," said sally.

"Hey, right now, we need all the help we can get," said jonesy. "Let's give it a shot."

"Thank you, sally," said jack.

---

The gang began to walk away from the giant tree in the center of the graveyard.

"Okay, let's have a look at that," said jonesy, taking the list from jack. He began to read it out loud.

"To make the sleeping soup, you need the following ingredients: deadly nightshade, frog's breath, and worm's wart. To get the deadly nightshade, go to the grave marked "deadly nightshade." There are many graves, so be careful! For frog's breath, if you need a frog. The doctor breeds them in his junkyard. And as for worm's wart, you can buy it at the shop."

"Deadly!" said jimmy.

"So, how are we going to do this?" asked jack.

"Well, it says we need a frog," said jonesy. "Which is perfect, because you're looking at the best frog catchers around! Right, jimmy?"

"What?" asked jimmy.

"Are you sure about that?" asked jack. "I've seen frogs the doctor breeds. They're very cautious around other people."

"Ah, there hasn't been a frog me and these guys haven't been able to catch," said jonesy. "Right, lumpy?"

"What?" asked jimmy.

"So I can trust you guys to catch the frog while I get the other two items?" asked jack.

"Sure thing!" said jonesy. "We'll catch that frog in nothing flat! Right, monobrow?"

"What?" asked jimmy.

Jonesy, frustrated, grabbed jimmy's lips and stared moving them up and down.

"Sure we can, jonesy!" jonesy said in jimmy's voice. "I have one eyebrow and the brain of a bug and I'm a very rich kid who gots money in the bank!"

"I don't know…" said jack. "With all those monsters roaming about, and then there's that nasty lighting…"

Suddenly, jimmy grabbed jonesy's lips and started moving them up and down.

"Relax, jack!" jimmy said in jonesy's voice. "I will help jimmy Joe Fred and Samantha catch it!"

Jack sighed. "Okay…" he said. "But hold on." Then, with a twirl and a wave of fire, jack was suddenly dressed up in his pumpkin king costume. He grabbed a nearby stick, inhaled, a shot fire at the stick, setting ablaze. "I've seen the pen that holds the frogs in the junkyard," he said, handing jonesy the stick. "It's blocked off by a fence. You have to light all the torches to open the fence. Got it?"

"Uh… yeah," said jonesy. "That costume's creepy. You know that, don't you?"

"Well, I am the pumpkin king," said jack.

"Whatever," said jonesy. "Anyway, we'll get the right frog, jack. You've got nothing to worry about."

---

jonesy jimmy Joe Fred and Samantha cautiously reentered the doctor's territory. Jack had agreed to meet them at the junkyard after he got the other items.

"Okay…where's the junkyard?" asked jonesy.

Jimmy looked over where the door with the giant circuit was. "Ooh, ohh!" he said, pointing to another door across from it.

"Good work, jimmy," said jonesy. They ran over to the door, being careful not to be struck by lighting or let the torch go out.

"What a dump," said jimmy as they entered the junkyard.

In the distance, jonesy heard croaking. "That must be the frog pen up there," he said, pointing at the far corner of the junkyard. "Come on!"

The five teenagers took the elevator up. Sure enough, there was the frog pen, and it was blocked off by a fence. There were three torches in front of the pen.

"Jack said we needed to light all the torches," said jonesy.

"Uh, that one's too far away, jonesy," said jimmy, pointing to the torch that wasn't near the others.

"So?" asked jonesy. "Use your head, lumpy! Make the torch go near the others!"

"Okay," said jimmy. He ran over to the other torch and head butted it. Pretty soon, with a few good head butts, the torch was right next to the others.

"Now we're talking," said jonesy. With one swoop of the stick, he lit all three of the torches.

The fence opened.

"Okay, jimmy," said jonesy. "Now go in there and get us a frog."

"Which one, jonesy?" asked jimmy.

"I don't know…" said jonesy. That's when he saw it. One of the frogs exhaled, and a thick green cloud came out of its mouth. "That one right there!" he said, pointing to it. "Get that one right there! See it?"

"Yep!" said jimmy. "I'll be right back, jonesy!"

Jimmy ran into the frog pen to fetch the frog. But jack had been right about the frogs being cautious around people. As soon as they saw jimmy, they quickly hopped away. Jimmy started running all over the place, until he just couldn't run anymore. He went back to jonesy Joe Fred and Samantha panting in defeat.

"I can't catch it, jonesy," jimmy whined. "They're hopping away too fast."

Jonesy began to think. How did the gang usually catch frogs back at the galleria mall? That's when it hit him. But he needed Caitlin…or maybe he didn't need her.

---

"Try showing some more leg, caitli… uh I mean jimmy!" jonesy called to his friend

Jimmy was crouching in the middle of the frog pen doing his best frog impression, wearing only his boxers. Jonesy held hid clothes and guns. At jonesy's request, jimmy lifted up one of his legs. Just like Caitlin did that time when they tried to catch frogs only jimmy wasn't a female and he wasn't wearing a 2 piece retro style bikini.

"Oh…my…lord…"

jonesy turned to see jack standing there, staring at jimmy with wide eyes.

"What did you do?" the pumpkin king asked jonesy.

"Mellow out," said jonesy. "He's still got his boxers on."

"This is how you guys catch frogs?" jack asked in disbelief.

"Well, normally, no," said jonesy. "But we couldn't just catch the right one, so I figured, what better to catch a frog than another frog?"

"But that's not another frog, jonesy," said jack. "That's jimmy without any clothes on. How's he supposed to…"

"Got it!" jimmy suddenly said. He ran back to jonesy Joe Fred Samantha and jack, holding a frog. When it exhaled, a thick green cloud came out of its mouth.

"And there's your frog," said jonesy. "Told ya we were the best frog catchers around."

As jonesy gave jimmy his clothes and his guns back, jack shook his head in amazement. "well, at least we have all the ingredients. Let's take them back to sally."

---

The gang had given sally all the ingredients, and they were waiting for her while she made the soup.

"Finished!" said sally, coming back with a bowl of the soup. "Once the doctor gets a whiff of this, he'll be out like a light!"

"Thank you, sally," said jack as jimmy took the soup. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd get a lot more trouble cause of your hair-brained schemes, probably," said jonesy.

---

Jimmy jonesy Fred Joe Samantha and jack went back to the door with the circuit.

"Now to smash that thing," said jack.

"And get the others from the psycho doc!" said jonesy.

"Psycho!" said jimmy.

As the gang entered, they saw a giant pumping circuit in the distance.

"How do we bust that thing?" asked Fred.

"Maybe…" said jack. He looked at a nearby rock. "Maybe if we take that rock through the maze, we can throw it at the circuit to smash it."

"Zappity zap zap!" said jimmy, pointing.

Jonesy Joe Fred Samantha and jack saw what jimmy meant. The path was lined with more electricity fences.

"How do we carry the rock?" asked jonesy.

"Like this," said jack. "Soul robber!"

Jack grabbed the rock with the soul robber. "You guys wait here," he said. "I'll be right back."

Jonesy Joe Fred Samantha and jimmy watched as jack carefully made his way through the maze, smashing the assorted debris in his way. When jack finally got to the giant circuit, he aimed carefully, then threw the rock right in The center of it.

"All right!" said jonesy.

"Now, to save the doctor!" said jack.

Jack ran back through the maze as fast as his long, skinny legs would carry him. He, jonesy, Joe Fred, Samantha, and jimmy made their way back to the main path…

Only to find it infested with monsters.

"Aw man…" grumbled jonesy.

"ATTACK!" yelled jimmy charging head first once again.

"Fine by me!" said jonesy beginning to run. Jack Joe Fred and Samantha followed him.

The six fought their way up the stairs and to the door of the doctor's lab. They quickly entered the lab and slammed the door behind them.

The five teenagers were panting heavily. Jack let out a sigh of relief. But just when the six were beginning to think that the worst was over…

"jaaaaaack! I was wondering when you'd get here!"

The five teenagers and jack looked around to see where the voice was coming from. Then jimmy pointed up.

The doctor's lab consisted of a huge spiral that led to the top, but one of the little brats herself, shock.

"Think you can reach me?" shock asked. "Try it. It's fun! I know I'm having a ball!"

Just then, a chute behind shock opened, and a monstrous metal ball popped out and began rolling down the spiral.

"Oh, great," jonesy grumbled again. "Just what we need right now. A bad pun."

"I don't want to crush your spirit, jack," said shock, putting her mask back on. "just your body!

Jonesy's eyes widened at this comment. "You were right, jimmy," he said. "That kid is like your older sister Tuesday…"

"No time for that now," said jack. "We have to make it to the top."

"This reminds me of that one game on that show with the Japanese people that have funny names," said jimmy.

"Hey, yeah," said jonesy. "All we have to do is get our timing right, and we'll be up there in no time!"

"If you say so…" said jack.

And so the pumpkin king and the five teenagers began to climb up the spiral path luckily as they ascended, there were little rooms in the walls that they could hide in so they wouldn't get crushed by the many giant boulders that were suddenly barreling their way. And jonesy was right. Before they, or shock, knew it, they had reached the top.

When shock spotted the six, she immediately slumped in defeat. She started waving her little broomstick, which had a white flag on it.

"I'm sorry, jack," she said in her sweetest voice. "I was only playing a trick…"

"Sheesh…" jonesy mumbled. "Some trick…"

the six continued to walk, only to find that shock was following them.

Suddenly, jack turned around so he was facing shock. "Stop helping Oogie," he said to her. "We mean it!"

Shock put on arm behind her back. "Okay…" she said.

Jimmy's eyes narrowed.

"That elevator leads up to the top floor," said jack. "Come on!"

Jimmy Joe Fred and Samantha followed jack onto the elevator. Jonesy, on the other hand, started to follow shock.

"jonesy, let it go," jack said in a commanding voice.

Now it was jonesy's turn to slump. "You're lucky the others are in trouble, squirt," he said to shock. "But just you wait. I'll get my chicken and rice yet!"

And with that, he joined jack Joe Fred Samantha and jimmy in the elevator. Jack pushed a button, and it began to go up.

But little did they know that it wasn't just the doctor that would be waiting for them…


	11. Chapter 11 changing brains

Soon enough, the elevator reached the top floor of the lab. The doctor seemed to be waiting for the gang. He was waiting at the other side of the room, his back turned to them.

"Dr. finkelstein!" said jack, stepping out of the elevator. "Why are you doing this?"

jonesy ran out in front of jack. " Where's the other's ya prick?" he asked the doctor.

Jack looked at jonesy, then back at the doctor. "jonesy, like I said before the doctor doesn't look anything like a brick wall…"

"Ah, jack," the doctor said suddenly. "I see you managed to make it here." He wheeled his chair around so he was facing the gang. "You've been busy, jack. I think it's time for you to rest." He then flipped the top part of his head open so he could poke his brain. But what actually inside wasn't what the gang anticipated…

"EWWWWW!" jonesy yelled when he saw the big green… thing inside Dr. finkelstien's head. "What is that?"

Jack gasped. "Oogie switched his brain!

"It's so gross!" said jimmy. "Can I touch it next?"

Dr. finkelstein wheeled his chair to the center of the room. "Shall we begin?" he sneered. "I think you'll like this device. I made it especially for YOU!

Suddenly, the machine the doctor seemed to be controlling came alive. The lasers on it took aim. Four giant metal claws lowered.

Jonesy Joe Fred Samantha and jack were wide-eyed. Jimmy was too, but for a different reason.

"COOL!" the rich teenager with the one eyebrow shouted.

Jonesy looked at his friend. "Tell me, jimmy," he said. "What's it like to have buttered toast for a brain?"

"Guys? Is that you?"

The five teenagers started looking around the room. They knew that voice for sure.

"GUYS!" jimmy yelled pointing to large birdcages above them.

"Sure enough, the others were in the cages

"There you are, guys! Said jonesy. "Get down here, will ya? You gotta help us with the doc!"

"We can't, jonesy!" said jen.

"What do you mean you can't?" asked jonesy.

"Because the doctor locked us up in cages Caitlin is taking a nap Jude doesn't know where his hat is and we don't have the key that's why!" said jen.

"What?" asked jonesy.

"Why's the doctor holding Sam's A.K. 47 rifle and why's he wearing Jude's hat?" jimmy asked suddenly

jonesy and the others looked back at the doctor. Jimmy was right. In his tiny little hands the doctor was holding Sam's A.K. 47 rifle and sitting atop the doctor's bald head was Jude's hat.

Meanwhile, jack was eyeing something else. Next to a desk was a tray with the doctor's real brain on it.

"We have to switch the doctor's real brain to save him," said jack. "Let's see…if we open his head from behind…then get in front of him…and throw his real brain in…yes! That should work!"

"Okay, we've got that part figured out," said jonesy. "But how do we get close enough to pull the switcheroo?"

"With free lunch from miss sally, jonesy MaGee!" said jimmy.

"Jimmy, what the hell are you…" jonesy began, turning to his friend. "Huh?"

Jimmy was still holding sally's soup.

"Wait a minute!" said jack. "That's right we have the sleeping soup that sally made!"

"Okay," said jonesy. "Now we just have to…"

"Here's some soup for you, doctor," said jimmy. The gang didn't know it, but jimmy had simply walked straight up to the doctor and gave him the soup. "May it serve you well! Here ya go."

Surprisingly, the doctor ate the whole thing. And just like that, he slumped over in his wheelchair.

"Wow," said jonesy. "That's fast."

"Now's our chance!" said jack. "Open his head up, jimmy!"

"Can do," said jimmy. He began to carefully open the doctor's head up…

But unfortunately, the soup apparently wasn't strong enough, because the doctor awoke with a start. Jimmy jumped and ran back to the gang.

"Jimmy you pinecone studdern fling ling!" jonesy growled.

Dr. finkelstein cocked Sam's A.K. 47 rifle and started the machine up again.

"Oh, I do fear that he means business, guys!" Sam called from his cage. "Please be careful.

"And for fucks sake dudes get my hat back!" said Jude.

Jonesy Joe Fred Samantha jack and jimmy readied their weapons. Dr finkelstein began his relentless attack.

Author's note: Ok now they're not singing the song from where jack had to fight dr. finkelstein in the game they're singing t.i. Presents the psc (pimp squad click) song called do ya thang have any questions about t.i. Or the psc leave me a review now back to the story.

Everyone (except Caitlin who is taking a nap):** hey, hey, hey (do ya thang) hey (do ya thang) hey, (do ya thang) hey, hey, hey, (do ya thang) hey (do ya thang) hey, hey, hey, (do ya thang) hey fresh out the house got the beat on suicide as I ride up and down martin Luther king drive, standin tall looking down on the bloody boys snitchin all day I look around the block.**

I'm in a silver sl five pounder on the block, aintcha ever seen a young playa clown on the drop, (do ya thang) aint nuttin to a G gang spit fluenty, groups of hoe's pursuin me, as if there's more than two of me 

"Geez…" jonesy mumbled. He was appalled by the doctor's words.

"We'll rescue you, doctor!" said jack.

"Never, jack!" said the doctor.

Everyone: **Monday my Chevy's orange and Tuesday its ocean blue 28's sit over, you Ferrari drops and rovers too, (do ya thang) hoes sit'em out, t.v.s I'mma flip'em out, 50 bricks they ain't shit, tell'em niggaz "shift it out".**

I'm commin down shinnin rose gold fellin like a magpoles, Cadillac with five hoes, make these suckas hate mo,' (do ya thang)

Damn right pimp we do this every night with the same big faces make these lame hoes bite.

I got that top down (top down)

I got the tints now (tints now)

I got it real now (real now 

I want sum bluts now (bluts now)

Do ya thang (I'm doin it I'm doin it I'm doin it I'm doin it)

I'm in the hood in a drop top, super-short, mesh leather horses, holla and the Porsche is fallin niggas on their porches holla (do ya thang) 

"Well, jack," said the doctor. "Like my inventions?"

"Hell, no!" said jonesy.

"He was talking to jack, jonesy," said jimmy.

"Doctor, please you've got to control yourself!" said jack 

Everyone:** they call me "thunder bill" cut me down to something else, shorty something else, hot enough to make the suckas melt**

Man I got a friutloop chevy following me on 24's look at your own cutlass green diamond purple hearts (do ya thang) a james bond car drizzled as a porn star spring we was green, so my cutless is a orange car.

I got a curly haired, dirty red broad, eatin lemon heads, leanin in the Lincoln with a pump by her left leg, (do ya thang) looking in the tan and getcha left side bend, then leave ya laid out do it by the lake bicth.

Color coated rims chop the streets till they rock up, muscle cars straight buckin look how it stands up (do ya thang), yeah I'm in the ride look like a fruit drink, it makes these hoes thirsty when they see the pineapple paint

I got that top down (top down)

I got the tints now (tints now)

I got it real now (real now)

I want sum blots now (blots now)

Do ya thang (I'm doin it I'm doin it I'm doin it I'm doin it)

"Just about done, doctor," said jack.

"Curse you, boy!" said Dr. finkelstein.

"You're welcome!" said jimmy.

Everyone:** baby that green, drop coupes that cream, earring in my ear look like a baby flat screen (do ya thang) I'm doin it, my neck piece green, ice rubberliscous perk, imma grand hustle king. **

"Super-clean" is on the scene; Italian leather match the polo boots, and the wood grain lame I'll show you how to do the do (do ya thang) blowin fruits same flavor as the candy gloss in the backseat got a freak pullin her panties off.

"Arrr!" weigh the anchor on the Cuban link chain, diamonds stacked on top of diamonds, custom made pinky ring (do ya thang) fishin hats, polo shorts with the polo man, wearin blue and tan in blue and tan avalanche.

Jackers never had a chance, set up in the avalanche, they hopped out the van and startin shootin like a cameraman, top down, hit the switch and let it drop down, passin by the underground, they can hear me underground.

I got the top down (top down)

I got the tints now (tints now)

I got it real now (real now)

I want sum bluts now (bluts now)

Do ya thang (I'm doin it I'm doin it I'm doin it I'm doin it) 

(outro)

**heh (do ya thang)**

(Do ya thang)

"Oogie's had control over you long enough!" said jack.

"I'm not defeated yet!" said Dr. finkelstein

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" asked jonesy, a sly grin forming on his face.

"Huh?" jack and the doctor asked together.

"NOW, JIMMY!" jonesy called to his friend.

Suddenly, jimmy popped up behind the doctor, holding the doctor's real brain. "Contact!" he said, opening the doctor's head up. He then grabbed the Oogie brain and quickly switched it. Then he slammed the doctor's head shut and ran off with the Oogie brain.

Suddenly, the giant machine stopped. The doctor dropped Sam's A.K. 47 rifle and he grabbed his head and started moaning. Then he slumped over in his wheelchair again.

Jonesy looked at jimmy, who was busy poking the Oogie brain. "Get rid of that thing, jimmy," said jonesy. "You don't know where it's been."

"Yes I do," said jimmy. "It was in the doctor's head. Want to touch it?" he held the Oogie brain in jonesy's face.

"It's twitching, jimmy," said jonesy, backing away. "I said get rid of it."

Jimmy pouted. "Okay…" he said, throwing the Oogie brain into one of the nearby trash cans. But first jonesy got his pistol out aimed at the Oogie brain and shot it five times when he was done shooting he put his pistol back in his pistol holster.

Just then, the doctor sat up again and wheeled himself to jack and the now thirteen rescued teenagers. "I'm sorry, guys I never thought my brain would be replaced an the town deceived…"

"Dude my hat, thank you." Jude and Sam walk right up to the doctor jude got his hat and sam got his A.K. 47 rifle. Jude put his hat back on his head.

Then jen reached behind her and picked something up for the others to see. It was a giant door in the shape of a four-leaf clover.

"Doctor!" jack exclaimed. "The st. Patrick's day door!"

"Indeed," said Dr. finkelstein. "That is a holiday door. Hmm…" suddenly, he gasped. "Jack!" he said, a sudden urgency in his voice. "What's today's date?"

"December 24," said jimmy.

Jen counted on her fingers. "December 24," she concluded.

Jonesy gasped.

"Oh no," said jack, who was also suddenly worried. "It's almost Christmas!"

"I wonder what's happening with the Christmas door?" said the doctor.

"Considering everything else that's happened… probably something very, very bad!" said Sam. "let's hope we can find it soon!"

"We need to go back to the pumpkin patch," said jack. "But it won't be easy. According to jimmy and Caitlin, Oogie's ghosts have possessed the pumpkins at the entrance, preventing anyone from entering."

"Hmm…" said Sam. "while we're probably able to strike the outer vessels with our weapons, they surely wouldn't be able to attack the creatures inside them, which are the real targets," he thought aloud. "However…" suddenly Sam's face lit up. "However, if we were to create a device that could somehow daunt the apparitions out of the protection from inside the gourds, their newly accessible state would allow all of us to beset the apparitions without any of us taking any real blight!"

The gang just stared at Sam. What the hell did he just say?

Even jack looked a little confused. "Uh…okay," he said finally, even though he had no idea what he was agreeing to.

The doctor seemed to be the only one who understood. He gasped. "I get it!" he exclaimed. "We'll scare those monsters out of the pumpkins! G-give me just a moment…"

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place, Sam?" asked jonesy.

Sam sighed. "Pardon me not speaking in your native tongue, jonesy," he said.

"Is the doctor himself again?"

The gang and jack turned to see sally entering the lab, holding a green present.

"Unfortunately," nikki joked.

"He's making a device that will help us defeat Oogie's army," jack explained.

"Jack…" said sally, holding out the green present. "Do you think this will be helpful, too?"

"What's this" jack asked, taking the present.

jonesy smiled. "I think I know…" he said.

Then, with a twirl of snowflakes, jack was dressed in a different costume.

Jonesy took one look at the costume and started laughing. He had been right about what it was.

"It's sandy's costume!" jack exclaimed, looking at his old red suit and long white beard.

"Ha ha!" the doctor laughed as he wheeled himself back over to the group. "That outfit really suits you! I completed the scare device." And with that, he handed jack another box which looked like another present. "if I told you what's in it though that would ruin the surprise!" the doctor added.

"Aww…" said jimmy.

"Hide this in your sandy bag and use it to stun Oogie's monsters!" said Dr. finkelstein.

Author's note: ok this my eleventh chapter and I haven't gotten a review please comment oh and tell what you guys think of the song I used on this chapter

Now if you don't mind I need to take a shower bye don't for get to comment


	12. Chapter 12 pumpkin patch possession

Author's note: so did any readers like the song do ya thang I used on chapter 11 all I need is a simple yes or no oh and leave me a review on with the chapter

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack and the gang had just left the doctor's laboratory and were heading back to the pumpkin patch, jack's new sandy costume and scare device on hand.

"I hope that thing works," said jonesy.

"Well, the doctor made it," said jack. "And all of his creations are always perfect."

"There it is!" said jimmy. "The patch with the pumpkins full of ghosts!"

The others looked up. Sure enough, there was a gate that led to the pumpkin patch.

"Come on," said jack. "But be careful."

---

The gang and jack cautiously entered the patch.

"Where are the possessed pumpkins, jimmy?" asked jen.

"There," said jimmy, pointing to three pumpkins in front of them.

Jonesy looked at the pumpkins. "So what?" he asked. "They look like regular pumpkins to me."

"Looks are deceiving," said jack.

"What made the ghosts come out, jimmy?" asked jen.

"Me and Caitlin walked up to them," said jimmy.

"Then I guess it's time to try this out," said jack. With a wave of snowflakes. He was in his sandy costume.

"Prima donna," jonesy grumbled.

Jack took a scare device out of his sandy bag. He got ready to throw it. "Merry Christmas!" he sang, throwing the scare device right in the middle of the pumpkins. But nothing happened.

That's when jack heard snickering. He turned and saw that jonesy was desperately trying to stifle laughter.

"What?" asked jack.

"Dude, your voice went up, like, two octaves!" Jude exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

"It did not!" said jack, clearing his throat. "Did it?"

"Well, I have to admit, the tone was a bit above range…" said Sam.

"Jack's got a girly voice!" jimmy blurted out.

Jack frowned. "Hey now…" he began.

SPROING

The team turned back to the scare device. A giant clown head had sprung out of it without warning. And there were no more pumpkins. Just three very confused-looking ghosts.

"Sam was right!" exclaimed jonesy.

"As I expected," said Sam.

"Come on!" said jack. "We've got to get rid of them before they get back into any more pumpkins!" he got out the soul robber and charged toward the ghosts, the gang got out their weapons right behind.

---

It was like this the whole way through the pumpkin patch. More possessed pumpkins would appear, jack would scare them out with the scare device, the gang would laugh at jack's "girly voice," then they would smash the ghosts.

"The bridge leading to the big pumpkin head is straight ahead," jack said. The gang looked off in the distance. There was a gigantic jack o' lantern. "Maybe we can get to the bottom of things there."

As the team moved on, they noticed that all of the regular pumpkins in the pumpkin patch had been smashed. They also found out that they weren't alone. Down the path, the team spied another Halloween town resident this one was bald, with very pale skin. He wore faded blue overalls, dirty yellow rubber gloves, and had an axe sticking out of his head.

Jonesy looked around at the smashed pumpkins. "Wow," he said. "What a dump."

"jonesy…" jen scolded as jack walked up to the Halloween town resident.

"Behemoth!" jack exclaimed, looking around. "The pumpkin patch is a mess!"

"It's the bad'uns," said behemoth in a deep, slow voice. "They ruin it. Break the bridge…"

That's when jack saw it. The stone bridge that led to the big pumpkin head had been split, preventing anyone from going over to the other side.

"The big pumpkin head," behemoth continued. "bad'uns eat it, too. My precious pumpkins…"

"That must be where the main infestation is," said jack. "Come on guys. We'll have to…" but when jack turned around, the gang were gone! "Guys?"

"Come on, lumpy!" jack heard jonesy say. "Put some backbone into it!"

"I can't reach it, jonesy!" said jimmy. "It's too far away!"

"Put him out farther, Sam!" said jonesy.

A grunt from Sam. "But jonesy, we'll fall in!" he said, looking at the rushing green water below.

Jimmy was trying to grab the other side of the bridge, Sam holding onto him, and jonesy holding onto Sam. Jimmy was too short to reach the other side, all three boys were dangerously close to falling in the water.

Jack shook his head, then walked over and grabbed jonesy by his shirt, pulling him and the other two boys back in. "don't waste your energy, boys," he said. "We'll have to take the other way around. Follow me!"

So, the teenagers followed jack deeper into the patch, behemoth waving goodbye to them.

Just then, as the gang were walking…

MAAAAAAAAOWWWWWWWWW!

"Arrgh!" jonesy groaned, plugging his ears. "There's that stupid cat again!"

More microphone feedback.

"Testing…testing…one, two three…am I on? A-hem denizens of Oogie town! Jack skellington and those teens have returned, according to the reports. Heh heh heh…they're enjoying our dangerous Oogie town so much, they're screaming in horror. Rejoice! This is all thanks to your efforts. Now, barrel, my star pupil, my prodigal son, my shining star. Go out and finish what your half-witted, half-alive playmates started. Because if you don't, there's more than half a chance I'll be very, very, very…ANGRY! Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha! Uh…um…that is all.

As the feedback faded, jonesy slowly took his fingers out of his ears.

"Is he done talking?" jonesy asked.

"Yes," said Sam. "And something tells me that this trip isn't going to be a pleasant one, either…"

"Was that Oogie?" asked jimmy.

"Yeah was it?" asked Caitlin.

"You two should know, lumpies," said jonesy. "You two were possessed by the guy!"

"What?" asked jimmy and Caitlin.

Jonesy groaned.

"All right!" said jack, stopping. "If we just continue through this area, it will lead us straight to the big pumpkin head. Let's hurry!"

---

After walking a little longer, jack and the gang stopped. The path was suddenly blocked off by a giant pumpkin root. And guess who jumped out from behind it?

"Hey, jack!" said barrel, as lock and shock jumped after him. "Want some candy?" barrel was holding a black and orange lollipop.

"We've had enough of your treats." Said jack.

"Aw, jack," said lock. "We're just getting started!"

"Our biggest trick is yet to come!" said shock.

Just then, the giant pumpkin root curled up, allowing lock, shock, and barrel to continue down the path.

"You're gonna get so lost," said barrel. "And after what we did to the mayor's house…oops! Wasn't supposed to tell you that! Catch you later, jack!"

Jonesy tried to chase after them, but the pumpkin root uncurled back over the path, stopping.

"This is no longer funny," said Sam.

"As if it ever was to begin with we gotta get rid of this root!" said jonesy, getting out his knife and started to cut the roots but the roots wouldn't cut his knife wasn't strong enough jonesy began to move his knife back and forth very fast.

"There must be something that activates it…"said jack.

Just then, the pumpkin root curled up again.

"Cool!" said jimmy.

The gang and jack looked over at jimmy. He was standing next to a scarecrow.

"Jimmy, how did you do that?" asked jen.

"I hit it," said jimmy. "Neat, huh?"

"That must unlock the path!" said jack. "Come on! We have to move!"

"What do you think barrel meant when he said, "you're gonna get lost?" asked Wyatt.

Jack looked down the path. "I think I know…" he said, clutching his skull.

The gang looked down the path, too. Then they saw what jack meant. The path led right into a maze!

"Aw, man," jonesy groaned. "Now that's exactly what we need right now."

"Okay, no big deal," said jack. "We just need to be careful, and move slowly…"

As the gang stepped deeper into the maze, they got another surprise. More enemies popped up from the ground.

"Screw that!" jonesy shouted. "Jimmy, find the stupid scarecrows and hit them so we can move on!"

"Can do, jonesy!" said jimmy.

He ran ahead as the others fought the enemies, finding scarecrows and hitting them, thus unblocking the path for the others, who ran like hell through the monsters

At the end of the maze, the teenagers were once again panting heavily. Even jack look a little frazzled. But at least they had reached their goal.

"Another bridge!" said Sam, pointing.

"That's where the big pumpkin head is!" said jack. "Hurry!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry," said jonesy as they ran over the bridge. "What the hell happened to walking?"

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Ike1992: ok this is my 12th chapter now readers all I ask is for one non-rude comments now I'm going to get started on my 13th chapter but for now my grand theft auto vice city stories game is calling me see ya later homies


	13. Chapter 13 peril in the pumpkin head

Author's note: well, here's another combined chapter, and I'm answering any reviews.

On with the chapter!

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Man, those spooks did a number on this place, didn't they? This sort of reminds me of the time Jude jimmy and I tried to scare Ron the rent a cop back at the mall." Said jonesy.

"Oh yeah dude that was cool!" said Jude.

"Oh that was funny uh huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh." Said jimmy.

"Um… jonesy if you don't mind me asking who is this Ron rent a cop guy?" asked jack.

"Oh some stupid security guard back at the mall." Said jonesy.

The team was looking at the area around the big pumpkin head. There were even more smashed pumpkins here than there were in the maze.

Sam looked up at the big pumpkin head and saw ghosts swirling around it.

"They're attacking from within!" Sam exclaimed.

Jack noticed a piece of root jutting out from the pumpkin head. "We'd better climb up and have a look," he said.

Jack lashed out the soul robber and grabbed the root, pulling himself up. The gang followed suit with jonesy's yo-yo mace.

"What next?" jonesy asked when all of them were on the top of the massive pumpkin.

"There," said jimmy, pointing to a hole that led inside.

"This must be where all the chaos is brewing," said jack. "Let's go!"

And with that, jack jumped into the hole.

Sam peered in. "but it looks so unsanitary…" he said.

"Yeah, what else is new?" asked jonesy.

"Come on, Sam," said jimmy, picking up Sam and jumping in, followed by the others.

Once inside, even nikki had to admit that the inside was a little gross.

"This looks just like the pumpkins back home before we lobotomize them," she joked.

"And we don't even use anesthesia!" said jimmy.

"Ha ha ha," said Sam, using all his strength to keep from gagging. "Can we please move on? Where's the troublemaker?"

"Right over there," said jack, pointing.

Sure enough, on the other side of the room was barrel, chowing down on a small pumpkin, along with a few skeletons.

Suddenly, barrel heard a noise behind him. He turned around…and saw twelve very familiar pairs of eyes glaring down at him.

"What?" barrel asked in disbelief. "You made it through my maze?"

"Now, barrel," said jack. "It's time we taught you a lesson."

"And get rice and chicken back!" jonesy declared.

The others looked at their friend.

"What?" asked jonesy. "I mean, besides the whole "teaching him a lesson" thing…"

But before jonesy could finish, the whole room became infested with more skeletons. Barrel started hopping around the room, too.

Jonesy groaned.

"GET THE KIDNAPPER OF SANTA!" jimmy yelled, charging.

"Jimmy…" Sam groaned. "Curse his spontaneous acts…"

It took longer for the gang and jack to rid the room of skeletons, just because there were so many. And the fact that barrel was hopping around and showering the group with pellets from his slingshot wasn't helping, either. But of course, that didn't stop jimmy. He just kept on charging, letting the pellets bounce off his bony helmet.

Then, before anyone knew what was happening, jimmy charged straight into barrel and rammed him into the wall. The skeletons disappeared.

"JAMES!" jen scolded.

Jimmy stood up. "Yes, mommy?" he asked.

"You were supposed to teach the kid a lesson," said jonesy. "That doesn't mean drive him into the wall!"

"It wasn't me, jonesy!" said jimmy. "Honest and for truly!"

"Ah well, it can't be helped," said jonesy, shrugging. "Start looking for my orange chicken and white rice!"

"Oh, jonesy…" jen mumbled.

Jimmy had only taken a few steps away from a dazed barrel when he had found something. "Ooh! Ooh!" he said, picking the object up.

"You find it, jimmy?" jonesy asked excitedly.

But instead of jonesy's cup of chicken and rice, jimmy was holding up a door in the shape of a turkey.

"Oh," said jonesy, disappointed. "It's just the turkey day door."

Then jimmy saw something else on the floor. It was a small key, lying right next to barrel. Jimmy picked that up, too.

Then jack walked over to barrel and kneeled down to his level. "Barrel," he said calmly. "Pranks are one thing, but real danger is not a good idea."

Barrel stood up, an ashamed look on his face. "I'm sorry, jack…" he said sweetly.

"Now, no serving Oogie," jack said as the gang walked over with the thanksgiving door and the key.

"Okay, jack," said barrel.

Then, without another word, jack walked over to the big pumpkin head's main exit, which had been unblocked when the skeletons attacked.

The gang followed the pumpkin king out, but as jimmy and Caitlin walked, they turned around just in time to see barrel put his arm behind his back…

---

"So, what have we got so far?" jack asked as they reentered Halloween town from the pumpkin patch.

"Well, the pumpkin patch is okay now," said Sam. "And we've found four holiday doors, counting the thanksgiving door we've just acquired…"

"So, where to next?" asked jonesy.

"We should probably go and make sure the residential area is okay," said jack. "The gate that leads to it is behind the town hall."

Jack led the gang to the gate, but when he tried to open it, it wouldn't budge.

"Darn!" said jack. "Locked!"

"Big surprise…" said jonesy.

"I suppose we'll have to find another key," said Sam.

"Yeah," said jimmy. "Like this one I found back in the big pumpkin." He held the key up for the others to see.

Jonesy smiled. "That'll do," he said, snatching the key from jimmy. He tried the lock. Luckily, it worked.

"Well, that was easier than imagined," said Sam.

"You know we could have got our pistols out and shot the lock." Said Fred.

"Oh…right duh." Said Samantha.

---

As the team entered the residential area, they looked around. There didn't seem to be much damage.

"Well, everything seems okay so far…" jack began.

"NO BRAKES!"

Somebody was shouting in the middle of the area. The team ran toward the screaming, and found clown, riding around on his unicycle. Only, it didn't seem like clown was controlling it…

"SOMEBODY STOP ME!" he begged as he swerved around town.

Sam looked over and saw that the tall witch was watching all the commotion as well.

"What on earth happened?" asked Sam.

"I was on my way home to get more supplies," the tall witch explained. "But then I heard screaming and found clown riding around. It seems those Oogies baddies inserted a motor in his unicycle and he can't stop it."

"Our turns!" yelled jimmy and Caitlin, running toward clown.

"Well, how the hell do we stop them?" asked jonesy.

"It seems the only way to stop it is to remove the motor, and even my spells can't do that," said the tall witch. "Maybe jack has something in his back of tricks?"

"Perhaps a good shock would stop the unicycle," suggested Sam.

"It's worth a try," said jack, putting on his sandy costume.

He threw some scare the devices out in front of clown. Sam was right; the unicycle did stop, but only for a split second. It would just start right back up again.

Jonesy watched as jack tried this tactic a few more times. "Well," he said after a while. "It's obvious that that's not working."

"hmm…" said the tall witch. "I guess the only way to stop clown is to use a tool to remove the motor by hand. I wonder where one could find such a tool?"

Sam's face lit up. "I know!" he said. "Follow me, gentlemen! I think I know just the person."

"Why does that not surprise me?" asked jonesy. "Jimmy Caitlin! Come on!"

Jimmy and Caitlin were still chasing clown around. They skidded to a stop. "Aww…"

---

"Why are we back at the doc's house?" asked jonesy.

"Well, if he's a scientist, he's sure to have something that will help us, right?" asked Sam.

"He's got a point," said jack. "I have a good feeling about this too."

"I don't have any feeling at all," said jimmy.

It took a while, but the team made it back up to the top of the doctor's lab.

"If this guy's so smart…" jonesy panted. "…Why the hell doesn't he have…an elevator?"

"I've learned that it's best not to ask him things like that," said jack. "the doctor's a nice guy, but he can be on the stingy side sometimes."

"Sometimes?" asked jonesy.

Dr. finkelstein turned around when he heard the gang entering. "Oh, is that you, jack?" he asked.

Sam stepped forward. "Doctor…" he said. "We require the assistance of one of your contrivances."

The gang and jack looked confused, while jonesy sighed.

"You really scare me when you talk like that, you know?" he asked Sam.

The doctor stared for a second, then he acted like he understood. "Oh, you need a tool?" he asked. "Well, help yourself. They're right over there." He pointed to a tool box sitting on one of his desks.

Sam smiled. "Thank you, doctor." He walked over to the box, followed by the others.

"By the way, guys…" the doctor said as Sam rooted through the box, looking for the right tool. "Have you seen sally? That woman is always sneaking out without permission."

"God, I wonder why?" asked jonesy.

"jonesy…" said Sam. "We'll say something to her the next time we see her." At the moment, he pulled out an oddly-shaped tool. "Found it!" he exclaimed. "This should help me remove that motor."

---

Jack and the gang slowly walked back to where clown was.

"So, what's the plan?" asked jonesy.

"Jack shocks the unicycle and I remove the motor," said Sam. "Plain and simple."

"Okay…" said jack.

Jack put on his sandy costume on again and threw another scare device. Clown's unicycle stopped right in front of it. Sam then lunged in with the tool and worked on the motor.

"Hmm…this should work," he said. Then, just like that, the motor fell out. "Yes!" Sam said triumphantly.

Clown panted. "at last…" he said. "I've finally stopped! Whoa…my eyes are spinning… ugh!"

The gang had to look away as clowned gagged, but jimmy, for some strange reason, didn't.

"Are you all right, clown?" asked jack.

"Yeah," said clown. "Thanks to you guys. But I hope those vampire brothers up the street are okay. I saw some of Oogie's monsters headed that way when my cycle went psycho."

"Vampire brothers?" asked Sam.

"Hey, didn't those brats say something about the mayor's house?" asked jonesy.

"I hope they're okay, too," said jack. "But that gate over there looks locked, so we can't go through."

"No problem!" said clown. There's a secret button on the top of my house. "I'll open the gate for you, and their houses are on the other side."

"Not much of a secret anymore," said jonesy as clown wheeled away on his unicycle.

"Jonesy, forget that!" said Sam. He glanced worriedly up the street. "I fear that we much more serious things to worry about…"

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ike1992: okay readers this is my 13th chapter and I'm getting started on my chapter 14 right now


	14. Chapter 14 the vampire brothers

"So jack…" Sam said as the team headed for the vampire brother's house. "These vampires…they don't…you know…"

"Guys, relax," said jack. "They're not dangerous. They just like scaring people, just like everyone else in Halloween town."

"Man I should've brought my silver bullets." Said jonesy.

"jonesy, you were around them last year, I don't see why you want to harm them." Said jack.

"Aw, come on, guys!" said jimmy. "Vampires are cool!"

"Jimmy, you think cats are cool," said jonesy.

"Here's their house," said jack, pointing to a giant mansion in front of them. "I hope they're okay."

"Yeah…" said jonesy uncertainly and taking out his pistol and taking out one clip and loaded and cocked his pistol.

The team entered the mansion.

"Hello?" jack called out. "Anyone home?"

But there was no one there.

"Four empty coffins," said Sam, looking at them. "But where are the vampires?"

"Hey, another note!" said jimmy. He walked over to a small table and picked up a small piece of paper. "You read it, Sam," he said, holding it out.

But Sam was uncertain. "There's dried blood on it, jimmy," he said.

Jack sighed and took the note from jimmy.

"What's it say?" asked jonesy.

Jack had to squint because the ink was faded. "Oogie…has transformed us…into four…bats," he read slowly. "Find us…and put us…back in our… coffins."

Jonesy shuddered. "And I thought vampires were bad enough…" he said.

"Now, jonesy," said Sam. "I do admit bats are a bit…how can I put this…unique…but I suggest that we just grin and bear it for now."

"Fine," jonesy grumbled.

"Find the bats, find the bats, find the bats…" jimmy chanted as the team went back outside.

"How the hell are we supposed to find them?" asked jonesy.

"Well, the vampire brother bats don't look like normal bats," said jack. "So they should be easy to spot."

"Like that one right there?" asked jimmy, pointing.

The gang and jack looked. Right in front of the house was a big bat flying around.

"There's one right there!" exclaimed jack. "Good work, jimmy."

"So how do we get it?" asked Sam.

"Our turns!" said jimmy and Caitlin, running toward the bat. But as soon as the bat saw jimmy and Caitlin, he went flying in the opposite direction. "We got it!" jimmy and Caitlin called over and over again as they ran after the persistent bat. "We got it! We got it! We got it!"

"Well, that's one down," said jonesy. "Let's go look for the rest."

"Are you sure they'll be okay?" jack asked, looking at jimmy and Caitlin.

"Oh, they're not going anywhere," said Sam. "I suggest we split up to look for the bats. That way, we'll get it done faster."

"Fine by me," said jonesy. "Where else would these bats be?"

"My guess is that we should search deeper into the town," said jack. "Come on!"

---

Jack and the gang walked deeper into the residential area, and quickly learned that it wasn't much better. Swinging axes had been set up in the paths all over the place. Somehow, the gang and jack dodged them all. Soon they got to two flights of stairs in the path; one led up and the other led down.

"Now what?" asked Sam.

"Well, since jonesy and I are the only ones who can grab onto things, we'll go up," said jack. "Sam, you take Joe Fred Samantha jen Wyatt Jude and nikki with you and take the other path."

Sam looked down the stairs. "Down there?" asked Sam.

"That's what I said," said jack.

"What about helping jack out, Sam?" asked jonesy.

Sam sighed in defeat. "Curse my polite ways…" he mumbled as he and the others headed down.

"So that means…" said jonesy.

"Only one way to go," said jack.

"Up!" they said together.

So jonesy and jack climbed the stairs. But they stopped when they saw what was at the top. "Whoa…" said jonesy.

Below them was a giant hole filled with the same green water from the fountain. But that wasn't the frightening part. Swimming around in it was a giant skeleton fish the size of a whale!

"Uh…"no bats here," jonesy said quickly. "Let's go."

"Hold it," said jack, pointing. On the other side of the gap was another one of the bats. "We can swing across it. Unless you're too scared…"

jonesy growled. "Hey buddy, let me get something straight to ya," he said. "jonesy Garcia is afraid of nothing!"

"If you say so," said jack. He waited until the giant fish skeleton submerged, then lashed out the soul robber onto one of the overhead hooks, swinging to the other side. "Come on!" he called to jonesy.

"Uh…right," jonesy called back. He readied the yo-yo mace and followed suit. And "unafraid jonesy Garcia" screamed the whole time he swung across.

"Not afraid, huh?" asked jack as jonesy landed.

"Oh funny, funny, funny," said jonesy.

"I'll take care of this bat," said jack. "That hook there leads up to the roofs of the houses. "You'll probably want to look up there."

Jonesy looked at the hook. "Piece of cake," said jonesy, grabbing the hook and swinging up.

"We'll all meet back at the vampire brother's house," said jack.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," said jonesy as he walked on the roof.

For some reason, all the houses were connected with the bridges, so jonesy had stable ground to walk on. He looked around. The roofs were swarming with bats, but one stuck out. This one was bigger than the others.

"Bingo," said jonesy. But as he took a step forward…

MAAAAAAAAOWWWWWWWWW!

"Oh, great…" jonesy grumbled. As he chased the bat across the roofs, Oogie's voice once again rang throughout Halloween town.

"My dearly abhorred denizens of Oogie town. Thanks to my ingenious thinking, I have decided to not only become the ruler of Oogie town, but all the other holidays as well. We'll be able to celebrate "Oogie boogie day" seven days every year, and I shall be the seven holidays king! The plans are already set. I'm off to secure the final holiday myself. After all, I have a debt to repay. Stay tuned. Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Uh… that is all"

As the microphone feedback faded, jonesy jumped up and snatched the right bat.

"A debt?" jonesy asked as he gently held the bat by the tip of it's wings. He stood there in silence for a moment. "Right," he said. He began to head back to the vampire brother's house. "Gotta ask Sam what that word means."

---

Jack had just made it back to the vampire brother's house with his bat. He wasn't surprised by what he saw. Jimmy and Caitlin were still running in circles, chasing the frightened bat.

"Hold still for a second, guys," jack called to them.

Jimmy and Caitlin froze.

With his free hand, jack took out a scare device that wasn't activated yet and threw it in front of him. The curious bat stopped its frenzy and flew over to the scare device.

"Now try it, guys," said jack.

Jimmy and Caitlin quietly walked over to the bat and grabbed it just as the scare device popped open.

"We got it, jack!" said Caitlin. "We got it!"

"You two certainly did," said jack. "Let's go put them back in their coffins."

Jack jimmy and Caitlin entered the vampire brother's house and stood in front of the four coffins. Just then, the door opened.

"Well, it wasn't easy, but we got it," said Sam, holding a bat. He closed the door with hi free hand. "I do hope jonesy's had just as much luck with…"

"Please tell me you guys heard Oogie," jonesy said, swinging the door open with a BANG!

"Unfortunately, yes," said jack. "All the more reason to stop him."

"Hey sam," said jonesy as he held tightly to the thrashing bat in his hands. "What's "debt" mean?"

"Well, let's see…" said Sam. "A debt is a returning action to someone's generosity. Returning a favor, if you will."

"Returning a favor?" asked jack. "Who on earth would Oogie have to return a favor to?"

"I don't know but…" jonesy began, but he stopped as the bat he was holding began to thrash around more violently. "Okay, this thing's making me nervous," jonesy blurted out. "Can we please get this over with?"

"My thoughts exactly," said jack. He walked over to the first coffin with his bat. "I hope you guys are paying attention," he said. "We might get some more clues."

"Oh, we're watching…" said Sam.

"From way over here," said jonesy as he readied his pistol just in case any of the vampire brothers try anything tricky.

Jack looked behind them. Jonesy Sam and jimmy had let go of their bats, and were standing on the other side of the room. It wasn't that far away, but it was still a good distance.

Jack sighed, placed his bat into the first coffin, and shut the lid. The coffin started rattling, and so did Sam's knees. The lid burst open, and up rose the first vampire brother.

"Ah, at last," said the vampire brother in his thick accent. "I am my old self."

"What happened?" asked jack.

"My brothers and I opposed Oogie's plan," the eldest brother explained. "We told him this wasn't the Halloween you wanted. But then he tricked us and trapped us in out bat forms."

"Then I take it you brothers are stuck as bats too?" Sam asked from the other side of the room.

"Yes," the vampire brother answered. "But I'll need help finding them." But as he tried to walk, he ended up stumbling. "Oh…my strength…"

"You look undead tired," said jack, helping the vampire brother. "You should rest."

"Undead tired?" asked jonesy. "I don't think even "I've been that tired."

"For centuries, we've been entrusted to guarding the keys to the mayor's house," said the vampire brother. "my brothers have the remaining pieces of the key." He than sank into his coffin and shut the lid.

"Well, it looks like we need the other vampire brothers," said jonesy.

"Oh!" said jimmy, pointing up. "There they are!"

Jack reached up and grabbed the second bat. Then he placed it in the second coffin. Like the first one, it shook and opened, revealing the second vampire brother.

"Here, jack," the second brother drawled. "Take this." He handed jack the second key.

"Thanks," said jack. "Rest easy now." The coffin closed.

"Well, this isn't so bad," said Sam.

"Then do you want to do the next one, Sam?" jack asked, taking the third bat.

"No!" Sam blurted out. "Uh…I mean…I'm fine here, thank you."

Jack put the third bat in the third coffin. The third vampire brother appeared.

"Here, jack," he said. "We're counting on you."

"Good night," jack said as he took the third key. "And unpleasant dreams."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Um…"

"Who?"

"Huh?"

"Uh…"

"Jimmy…"

"Why?"

Jack looked at the eleven teenagers standing behind him.

"Uh…sorry," jonesy mumbled.

Jack shook his head in disbelief. "You guys never cease to amaze me," he said as he put the last bat in the final coffin.

The fourth vampire brother appeared. "This is the last piece," he said.

"Thanks," said jack, taking the fourth and final key.

As he did, the three coffins opened, revealing the other three vampire brothers. The gang jumped. Of course, jimmy didn't.

"Thank you so much, guys," said the first vampire brother. "Now we can tell you about Oogie's plan. He kidnapped all the other holiday leaders."

"He dragged the leaders here," said the second vampire brother. "Then he stole the holiday doors from the hinterlands. Lock, shock, and barrel hid the doors in each area of the town so the leaders couldn't return home."

"So you're saying that the leaders of thanksgiving, Easter, Valentines Day, and the rest of the holidays are being held prisoner somewhere in the town?" asked Sam.

"Precisely," said the third brother. "Oogie wants to take over all the other holidays and become the seven holidays king."

"The seven holidays king?" jack repeated. "This is intolerable!"

"Yeah!" said jonesy. He turned to Sam. "Quick!" he whispered. "What's "intolerable" mean?"

"However, unless you find the holiday doors and return them to the hinterlands, you won't be able to return the holiday leaders, even if you find them!" said the fourth brother. "Take back those doors and stop Oogie and his army!"


	15. Chapter 15 the mayor's madhouse

"I sure hope those monsters haven't done anything to the mayor," jack said as he and the gang left the vampire brother's mansion. "He's not the best at handling things by himself."

"My question is: if the mayor can't handle anything by himself, why's he the mayor?" asked Sam.

"Who invited you?" asked jonesy.

---

Jack led the gang to the mayor's house, which was located deeper in the residential area.

"It's the two-faced mayor guy's head!" exclaimed jimmy when he saw the house.

It was true. The mayor's house was shaped to look just like his head. Including a tower that looked like his hat!

"And I thought you had problems…" jonesy said to jack.

"So where do these keys go?" asked Sam."

"I'm guessing they fit into the picture on the ground here," said jack

The gang looked below them. Carved into the ground was the mayor's happy face.

"Oh, brother…boy is this thing ugly," said jonesy.

"Well, this shouldn't be hard to figure out," said Sam.

Jack and the jonesy jimmy and sam took a key and found a place to put it on the giant mayor face. It took jimmy a while to figure out how to put his in, because he's jimmy, but he finally got his key, which looked like a couple of the mayor's teeth, to fit. Sam was in charge of the key that looked like the mayor's nose. He carefully and precisely placed it in the middle of the picture. Jonesy had the key that looked like the mayor's blue eye, and jack had his yellow eye. They placed theirs at the appropriate places near the top of the picture.

The team stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"Oh yeah," said jonesy. "That is fine craftsmanship right there."

"Craftsmanship?" Sam repeated. "It seems those tutoring lessons are after all, jonesy."

Jack walked up to the mayor's door to open it. But just as he was about to touch the knob…

"Jack! Up here! Please hellllp!"

"Uh oh," said jonesy. "I know that whine."

Jack ran back out to the middle of the mayor's picture.

"Hellllp!" the whiny voice repeated.

Jack and the gang looked around in all directions to see where the voice was coming from. Jimmy looked up. Then he pointed.

Jack looked up too. "What?" he asked when he saw what jimmy was pointing at.

"Aw, man…" jonesy moaned.

"Oh dear…" said Sam.

At the very top of the mayor's house, stuck in a cage, was the mayor, who, of course, had his white face on. "Helllp!" he repeated again.

"We gotta go all the way up there?" asked jonesy.

"We have to if we're going to save the mayor," said jack. "Let's go!"

"Why?" jonesy asked as they ran into the house.

The team did not feel welcome one bit as soon as they set foot in the mayor's house. It had been completely overrun by Oogie's monsters. Inside the house, a giant staircase much like dr. finkelstien's led to the top.

"Oh dear," said Sam. "Physical activity…"

---

The gang started up the stairs, fighting all the monsters in their paths. "jack, jimmy and jonesy were holding out fine, but they hadn't even gotten to the third floor when Sam became so exhausted he could barely walk.

"Boy, Sam," said jonesy. "You're such a jock."

Sam had to be put on jimmy's back and ride up the rest of the stairs.

And as if all the monsters and sam complaining about being tired wasn't bad enough, once in a while, the mayor's whiny "Helllp!" could be heard in the background, and this just made everything even more irritating.

"Okay, OKAY!" jonesy finally yelled up at the mayor as he swung at enemies. "Keep your political pants on!" then he mumbled under his breath, "man, he's worse than four eyes over here…"

And throughout the whole thing, jack was somehow able to keep cool, despite all the noise happening around him.

---

After what seemed like forever, jack and the gang finally got to where the mayor was.

"Mayor!" exclaimed jack. "Are you okay?"

"Jack!" said the mayor. "Oh, you don't know how happy I am to see your skull. I thought I'd be stuck here forever!"

"Yeah, so did we…" said jonesy.

Jimmy took Sam off his back and lowered the cage, letting the mayor out.

"Do you know where the holiday door hidden in this residential area is?" Sam asked as he stood up.

"I saw some of Oogie's goons up on my roof," said the mayor, switching to his happy face. "Thank you jack." He turned to the gang. "And you too, guys. Good luck!" he then began to walk back down the long staircase.

Jack and the gang had to climb one more set of stairs to reach the mayor's roof. But as they began to walk, they heard the citizens of Halloween town below them begin to sing.

Citizens: **it's time it's time**

Take our town back Take our town back 

Mayor:** take our town back take our town back we can win**

Witches and citizens:** we were deceived and now it's time to set things right! We'll see Oogie fall!**

Of course, the gang couldn't help to join in.

The gang:** take the town back! Take the town back! Take the town back!**

Witches and citizens:** time to work had everyone on the job until it is done then we'll get back to creepy fun it's time to battle**

Vampires and citizens: **take our town back! Take our town back! Just like you, we'll have our dear place now that they are on the case**

Sally:** we were deceived**

Jimmy and Caitlin:** you were all deceived!**

The gang, citizens: **all together, that and this, with all our tricks we'll make things as they were**

Jack! 

All eyes turned to jack. And he didn't look happy.

Jack:** I don't believe what has happened here our town, our own, our Halloween… YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**

The gang, citizens: **hurry now! Hurry now!**

Take our town back! Take our town back! 

La, la, la it has begun, we cannot wait so be on guard and concentrate 'cause when the full moon starts to climb we'll all sing out!

The gang:** take our town back!**

Jack, and the gang: **Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha …**


	16. Chapter 16 rooftop rumble

Author's note: I couldn't wait to post this chapter, so as a special treat to all you fans, I'm posting it now enjoy! - Ike1992

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack and the gang had just reached the roof of the mayor's house. But they hadn't taken two steps onto the roof when they saw the three certain somebodies were waiting for them. Can you guess who they were?

"Well, well," said jack, clutching his skull. "If it isn't the three little pranksters again."

"Figures…" grumbled Joe.

"At least jonesy can get his rice and chicken back now," said jimmy.

Lock, shock, and barrel, who were on the other side of the roof in their walking bathtub, snickered.

"You're still working for Oogie, are you?" asked jack.

"Dude, do you really have to ask?" asked Jude.

"We're not working," said lock. "We're playing."

"And winning," added shock.

"Another round, guys?" asked barrel.

"As if you had a choice!" all three brats said together.

Jack stood his ground. He was not amused. "It's time you three learned all games must come to an end," he said.

Jonesy looked at jack. For some reason, jack was covering his face. "Huh?" he asked.

Suddenly, jack popped his head up. And his face wasn't so innocent-looking anymore.

"HAAAAAAAAAH!"

Of course, the gang jumped, but the three brats in a tub didn't seem that intimidated. They began to taunt gang.

"Over here!" "This way!" "Ha!"

jonesy growled. "I have had it with the mouths on those brats!" he said, pure annoyance in his voice. "I say we take 'em down!" he took out his yo-yo mace and walked the dog.

"For once, I'm in complete agreement with you, jonesy," said Sam, readying his death rattle.

"HIT 'EM HARD!" jimmy yelled, bending over, ready to charge.

Jack didn't say anything. He simply readied his soul robber.

The others just readied their guns.

Then the battle began. The walking bathtub began to run across the roof. And the three brats in the tub began to sing.

Lock, shock, barrel:** laa, la, la, la, la, la, laa!**

La, la, la, la, la, la, laa! La, la, la, la, laa! Hail to mister Oogie! Jack will never when! When you find our booby traps 

They will do you in!

Shock:** first we brought the master back**

To take this town away from jack! We knew he'd fight to set things right So we got bad guys who attack! 

Jimmy and Caitlin: **stop! We've had enough of you!**

Your punishment is overdue! You've instigated chaos here And turned this town onto its ear! 

Lock, shock, barrel: **hail to mister Oogie!**

Put jack to the test! Keep him guessing all the time Never let him rest! 

Barrel:** then mister Oogie boogie man**

Shock: **can take the whole town over then!**

Lock:** he'll be so pleased, I do declare!**

Lock, shock, barrel:** the whole world should beware! Wheee!**

"We'll get you this time!" said shock.

"You're in big, big trouble!" said jack.

"This calls for extreme measures," said Sam.

Lock:** now that Oogie is the king **

**We get away with everything! **

**You cannot scold us for our pranks! **

**The new king Oogie, let's give thanks!**

Sam:** don't be follish! Think now **

**All this danger isn't fun and games! **

**When this town is back to normal **

**Do you really want the blame?**

Lock, shock, barrel:** hail to mister Oogie! **

**This is so much fun! **

**We make mischief day and night **

**Our work is never done!**

Jack, jonesy:** if we told you once, we told you twice **

**To straighten out your act! **

**You'll never get away with this **

**And that, you brats, is fact!**

Jack:** I've had enough of this disgrace!**

**So take me to the hidden place! **

**Where my friends sit locked in a cage! **

**Or you will face my rage! **

Lock, shock, barrel:** wheee! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ha…**

"You can't win this time, jack!" said barrel.

"You kids are in big trouble," said jack.

"Give me my rice and chicken!" said jonesy.

Lock, shock, barrel:** laa, la, la, la, la, la, laa!**

**La, la, la, la, la, laa!**

Laa, la, la, la, la, la, laa! 

**La, la, la, la, la, laa!**

**Hail to mister Oogie! **

**Jack will never win! **

**When you find our booby traps **

**They will do you in!**

Shock:** first we brought the master back **

**To take this town away from jack! **

**We knew he'd fight to set things right **

**So we got bad guys who attack!**

Jimmy and Caitlin:** stop! We've had enough of you! **

**Your punishment is overdue! **

**You've instigated chaos here **

**And turned this town onto its ear!**

Lock, shock, barrel: **hail to mister Oogie! **

**Put jack to the test! **

**Keep him guessing all the time **

**Never let him rest!**

Barrel:** then mister Oogie boogie man**

Shock: **can take the whole town over then!**

Lock: **he'll be so pleased, I do declare!**

Lock, shock, barrel: **the whole world should beware! **Wheeee

"Oogie will not be defeated!" said lock.

"Jimmy will defeat the deframed creature from the netherworld!" said jimmy.

"Oddly, I couldn't have said that better myself, jimmy," said jack.

Lock:** now that Oogie is the king **

**We get away with everything! **

**You cannot scold us for our pranks! **

**The new king Oogie, let's give thanks!**

Sam:** don't be foolish! Think now **

**All this danger isn't fun and games! **

**When this town is back to normal **

**Do you really want the blame?**

Lock, shock, barrel:** hail to mister Oogie! **

**This is so much fun! **

**We make mischief day and night **

**Our work is never done!**

Jack, jonesy: **if we told you once, we told you twice **

**To straighten out your act! **

**You'll never get away with this **

**And that, you brats, is fact!**

Jack:** trusting him is a big mistake! **

**One that you don't want to make! **

**He might reward you, this is true! **

**By cooking you into a stew!**

BOOM!

Jack, fittingly, delivered the finishing blow.

The walking bathtub was sent flying, but the three little brats weren't the only things that flew out of it.

Jonesy gave a big grin as the Independence Day door and his cup of rice and chicken landed at his feet.

"Yes!" said jonesy, picking up his chicken and rice. "Come to papa!"

Jimmy took the Independence Day door.

Jonesy was busy staring wide-eyed at his prize.

Jack, however, was focused on something else. He glared at the three dazed brats sitting in front of him. "Now it's time to really teach you three a lesson," he growled.

Lock, shock, and barrel snapped out their daze just in time to see jack slowly walk toward them, his face growing more and more demonic with each step. They began to quietly whimper and back away.

The gang, on the other hand, were loving this.

"Oh, this is gonna be sweet!" said jonesy, grabbing his spoon and scooping rice and chicken. He was so excited, he almost swallowed the chicken he was chewing.

Jimmy's face suddenly developed a wicked grin, and even Sam's adrenaline was pumping a little and even Nikki had her same grin on her face.

"Who's first?" jack asked, his voice matching his face: terrifying beyond rational thought.

All of a sudden, lock, shock, and barrel didn't look so scared. " Jack…" they suddenly said. "TRICK OR TREAT!"

"Huh?" jonesy asked. His jaw dropped, so the rice and chicken he was chewing almost fell out.

The three brats stood up and started to run away, to a secret button on the other side of the roof. However, barrel tripped, so lock and shock were the only ones to jump up and press the button.

"What the?" asked jonesy, confused. "What'd that do?"

Just then, jack and the gang felt like they were levitating. They looked down. There was a good reason that they felt like they were levitating. There was no longer any solid ground below their feet! The gang and jack gave a yelp as they disappeared down a hole.

Lock, shock, and barrel laughed. "Looks like they really fell for that one!" all three of them said together.

---

Meanwhile, jack and the gang were falling down into total darkness. Of course, all twelve of them were yelling.

Just then, jack saw a piece of rock jutting down from who-knows where. But at the time, he didn't care. Just as long as he could stop falling!

"Soul robber!" jack shouted. The soul robber lashed up and grabbed the piece of rock.

The others were falling just above jack, so they were able to grab onto his legs Joe Fred and Sam grabbed on to Caitlin's cat tail and they all stopped falling. They all gasped for breath.

"Phew," said jack as they dangled there. "What a day this has been." Then he noticed something. He looked down at the ten teenagers holding onto his legs and the three boys holding onto Caitlin's tail" "One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…eight…nine…ten" the pumpkin king began to panic. Someone was missing! "Oh no where's jonesy?" he asked urgently.

Then jonesy's yelling came within hearing distance. Jack looked up and saw him whizzing down, one hand clutching his precious cup of rice and chicken. With his free hand, jack reached out to grab his friend… but to his horror, he missed.

"Grab him!" jack yelled, the panic now visible in his voice.

Jen tried to grab her stepbrother as he fell, but she missed too. Jimmy tried to clamp down on jonesy's shirt with his teeth, but, to their dismay, he missed as well.

"AWWWWWWWWW! SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" jonesy's voice echoed as he kept falling.

And all jack and the others could do was watch as their friend disappeared into the darkness, his voice growing fainter and fainter until it could no longer be heard.


	17. Chapter 17 the grisly gauntlet

Unable to do anything about jonesy, jack pulled himself, along with the others, up to a secure spot near the jut in the rocks. To his surprise, there was an opening that led to somewhere else. He cautiously went through the opening, the gang following.

---

Jack wasn't prepared to see what was exactly was on the other side. But it certainly wasn't what he expected. It was a giant cavern, and streams of lava were gushing everywhere. And more importantly, the whole area was covered with Oogie's booby traps.

"What is this place?" jack asked. However, he ended up talking to himself because the others were too fussing over jonesy. Jack looked around. "Looks like there's nowhere to go but straight ahead…" he eyed the sword-slashing suicide kings and swinging buzz saws. "This place is filled with Oogie's traps…" finally, jack looked at the smoldering magma flowing around him. "I don't think any of us would care to fall into that lava!"

"Sick. Sick. I think I'm gonna be sick!" said Sam. "There's no telling what happened to jonesy! But either way, at the speed he was falling, if he does reach solid ground, he's sure to suffer some serious injuries!"

"I don't like this game anymore, guys!" cried jimmy.

"Calm down, guys!" said jack. "We'll find jonesy! It's going to be all right." He began to walk down the path straight ahead.

"I'm surprised that you're being calm, jack," said Sam as he and the others followed the pumpkin king. "I would think that you'd be hysterical by now…"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I am the best there is," said jack. "I prefer to scare and not be scared."

"If you say so…" said Sam.

But in jack's mind, he knew he was just bluffing. He was beginning to wonder why he was really wasn't hysterical at the moment. He did like all eleven of the teenagers, but jonesy was definitely his favorite. Mostly because jonesy was so much like his older brother, it almost drove jack crazy.

"I swear to god, if anything has happened to that boy, I will never. EVER forgive myself," jack caught himself thinking. But he couldn't freak out in front of the others. This would just worry them even more. So he held it in.

---

Oogie's buzz saws and sword-swinging suicide kings made the path almost impossible to walk through. Thankfully, either the traps could be easily destroyed by jimmy, or they were easy to time just right and pass through them. So it wasn't that much of a challenge. But throughout the trail, all eleven of them kept an eye out, just in case jonesy was here. But jonesy was nowhere to be seen.

Then, as they were halfway through the maze of booby traps…

MAAAAAAAOWWWWWWWWWW!

The team froze. What was Oogie going to say this time?

"Ba ha ha ha ha ha! You're going to be torn to pieces, guys! Do you really think you can make it out of here alive? It's sooo entertaining, watching you run from my little traps down there. Ha ha ha ha!"

The feedback ended.

"Well, that wasn't very helpful," said Sam.

But for some reason, jack looked intrigued.

"Is something wrong, jack?" asked jen.

"You didn't hear that?" asked jack.

"Hear what?" asked Caitlin.

"That groaning!" said jack. "When Oogie was talking…I heard groaning in the background! I think it might have been jonesy!"

"Oogie has jonesy?" asked Sam.

"Uh oh…" said jimmy.

"All the more reason to hurry," said jack. "Come on!"

---

At the end of the path, there was a large entryway that led deeper into the caverns. Jack and the others took no hesitation in entering it.

Inside the new cavern, the team was met with quite a sight. It was a big circle of six cages, each representing one of the six holidays besides Halloween. There was also a big cage that looked like it led up in the middle of the room.

"What on earth?" asked Sam.

"The holiday leaders are being kept in the depths of Hades!" exclaimed jimmy.

And jimmy's exclamation wasn't that inaccurate. In five of the six holidays cages, there were wriggling sacks, presumably the leader of that holiday.

"I recognize this cage!" jack said, walking over to the cage in the middle of the room. "it's part of a well in the town square this place must be where it leads."

"Hmm…" said Sam, looking at the wriggling sacks in the cages. "Thanksgiving, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day, and jack's the Halloween leader…" Sam's eyes widened. "Oh dear…someone's missing!"

"But who?" asked jimmy.

"I think I know," said jack, walking over to the empty holiday cage. There was a huge Christmas tree above it. "But…why didn't Oogie throw sandy in this cage?"

"It's beyond me, jack," said Sam.

Jack looked deeper into the empty cage. "Hey…I think we can continue through here."

"What?" asked Sam.

"How?" asked jimmy.

"It's open!" said jack, trying the cage door. He looked at the others behind him. "Shall we?"

"If it means getting closer to jonesy…" said Samantha. "Yes!"

"Jonesy, we're coming!" said jimmy.

---

As jack and the gang almost ran down the new path, they soon realized something: the path was pitch black! They couldn't even tell what they were walking on. But the path kept going, so they kept running.

After what seemed like forever, the path finally opened to a new room. And the only other thing in the room was a certain walking potato sack glowing green from the black lights and…welding jonesy's m16 assault rifle

"Oogie!" jack yelled to his foe standing in the middle of the room. "Return the holiday leaders to their worlds!"

"And give back jonesy!" added jimmy.

Oogie just sneered. "I can assure you…" he said. "The leader of every holiday is right where he should be! And you're looking at him!"

"Oh, please," Nikki said in her most sarcastic tone.

"Where are you holding sandy?" asked jack.

"Jaaaaack…" Oogie drawled. "Weren't you guys listening? I said I have a debt to repay old sandy claws! A debt I'm going to pay back in person! Of course, I don't want you causing any trouble while I'm on my little visit. So I've hidden the Christmas door in something quite nasty! So in the meantime, what say we have some fun?"

"That's never good to hear…" said Sam.

"The Oogie casino is now opened!" said Oogie.

When Oogie said the word "opened," the entire room lit up, revealing the giant roulette wheel that Oogie had last year. And that wasn't all…

"Jonesy!" yelled jimmy, pointing.

Jack and the gang looked. Sure enough, up near one of the many doors in the room, there was jonesy. The only problem was that he was lying on his back, not moving. A soft groan emitted from his mouth, but that was it.

Jack growled and jumped down so he was right in front of Oogie, followed by the others. They readied their weapons, nobody could hurt their friend and get away with it!

"What are we gambling for, you ask?" Oogie asked, apparently not intimidated. "Oh, nothing all that valuable. Just your lives! CUE THE MUSIC!"

"Music?" sam groaned. "Oh…why does there always have to be music?"

Oogie Boogie:** well, well, well! **

**Look what the bat dragged in! **

**Jack, you made it this far? **

**Oh, I'm really scared!**

Jack:** Oogie, we're here to finish this once and for all!**

Oogie Boogie: **you're jokin'! You're jokin'! **

**I can't believe my ears! **

**You're jokin'! You gotta be! **

**Best laugh I've had in years!**

Sam:** we hope you did amuse yourself **

**With this, your little fling!**

Jimmy and Caitlin:** you'd better pay attention now**

'**Cause he's the pumpkin king!**

Oogie Boogie:** you think you are winning**

**But that's a lot of noise! **

**Just to be a sport, dear jack **

**I'll share my Oogie-toys!**

Whoa-oh! 

Ghosts:** whoa-oh!**

Oogie Boogie: **whoa-oh!**

Ghosts:** whoa-oh!**

Oogie Boogie: **whoa-oh!**

Ghosts:** whoa-oh!**

Oogie Boogie:** I'm the Oogie Boogie man!**

"So, you really made it this far?" asked Oogie.

"Release the holiday leaders!" jack commanded again.

"And jonesy!" said Sam.

"JONESY!" said jimmy.

Jack:** the leaders of the holidays **

**And jonesy must be set free! **

**Release them all at once **

**Or you'll have to deal with me!**

The gang: **and us!**

Oogie Boogie: **you beat my men, so what? Big deal! **

**You even ran the maze! **

**You still can't stop me! **

**I'm the king of seven holidays! **

**Whoa-oh!**

Jack:** whoa-oh!**

Oogie Boogie:** whoa-oh!**

Jack: **I'm the only pumpkin king!**

BOOM!

One last hit from the gang and jacks' weapons made Oogie fall and made him drop jonesy's m16 rifle. He was exhausted.

"You…you've got some nerve…escaping my perfect trap…" he panted. "However…the real losers are you, guys." Oogie suddenly stood up. "For he who has the last laugh wins!"

Suddenly, Oogie's body began to melt into the floor below him, which was the middle of the roulette wheel.

"Huh?" the gang asked all together.

"What's this?" asked jack, shocked.

Just then, something rose up from the same spot. It looked just like the Oogie shadow that had possessed jimmy and Caitlin. "Congratulations, heroes!" said Oogie's voice. "You defeated my shadow!"

"It was a fake?" asked Samantha.

"The real me is in Christmas town!" said the Oogie shadow. "Bye, now!"

The Oogie shadow glowed brightly, and the whole room suddenly shook, almost as if the shadow had been a bomb.

"Hash browns and eggs with buttered toast!"

Jack knew that voice. He strained to see through the room, but it was hard because of all the dust that had kicked up. That's when he saw him. Jonesy was now conscious, obviously in pain and clutching his head, limping across the room where the others were standing.

"JONESY!" the gang said all together.

Suddenly, jonesy fell over on his back.

"Jonesy!" said jack, running up to his friend. "Are you all right? Oogie didn't do this to you, did he?"

"Nope…" jonesy mumbled. "Just had a sudden urge to fall down, granddad…"

"Granddad?" asked jack. "I'm not that old…" he added under his breath.

"Oh dear…" said Sam. " He seems to have experienced that some head trauma from that fall…"

"Relax, will ya?" jonesy slurred. "I'm fine, except that I have a splitting headache the size of liberty city…"

"Well, if you say so, jonesy…" said Sam.

"And hey, I still got my rice and chicken!" said jonesy. "And look what else I found!"

It was then that the others noticed that jonesy had been carrying something else the whole time. They gasped when jonesy held it up. It was another holiday door, this one shaped like an Easter egg.

"The Easter door!" exclaimed jack. "But…where's the Christmas door?"

"Not here," jonesy mumbled. "I checked. Not here…"

"Now what, jack?" asked Sam.

Jack looked behind him. The Oogie shadow had left a giant hole in the middle of the room.

"We'd better head back to the plaza," said jack. Then without another word, he jumped into the hole!

The gang just stared for a moment. Then all of them shrugged and jumped into the hole, but jonesy stopped and went to back to get his m16 the Oogie dropped then he jumped into the hole following the others and jack.


	18. Chapter 18 spiral hill

Meanwhile, back in Halloween town, a crowd had gathered. The hanging tree, the witches, behemoth, corpse kid, clown, and even dr. finkelstein were in the town square, hanging around the fountain. Just then, they sensed that something was about to happen. They all gathered closer to the fountain and cautiously peeked over the edge.

Sure enough, something did happen. In a display similar to that on Halloween night, somebody began to rise from the fountain. And that somebody was none other than jack skellington! The hole he and the gang had jumped into had led right to the Halloween town fountain! Everyone standing around the fountain began to cheer and applause. However, jack wasn't alone…

A few seconds after jack appeared, all eleven teenagers burst out of the fountain at once, gasping for air and spitting out the fountain water. A few of the citizens reached in to help them out.

"Could you warn a person?" Nikki asked as she let water come out of her cargo pants.

"It'll take weeks to disinfect these clothes," groaned Sam. "And probably even longer to get this taste out of my mouth…"

"Well, you weren't supposed to swallow it," said jack. "Besides, I thought the fountain water's healing properties would be good for jonesy…"

That's when jonesy noticed something. "Hey, my headache's gone!" he said.

"Thought so," said jack.

"So now what?" asked Jen.

"We have to go after Oogie!" said jack.

"But we don't even know which way he went!" said Fred.

"And we still need to tend to the holiday leaders…" said Sam.

"Oh yeah…" said jack. He thought for a minute. "Okay!" he said finally. "You guys find someone to help the other holiday leaders, while I ask around to find out which way Oogie went."

"I guess we can do that," said Jen.

"You can count on us, jack," said Samantha.

"Good," said jack. "I'll meet you guys back here." And with that, he walked off to talk to clown.

"Okay, let's get this over with," said jonesy. "Jimmy Caitlin can you both…jimmy Caitlin?"

The others looked around. Jimmy and Caitlin weren't there.

"Not again!" groaned Jen.

Then the sound of someone clearing their throat met the gang's ears. They turned around. Dr. finkelstein and behemoth were looking at the fountain.

"Did you lose two of your friends?" asked doctor. He pointed up to where he and behemoth were staring.

The gang looked, and immediately saw that they had every right to stare. There, standing next to the monster statue that the water shot out of, were jimmy and Caitlin. Jimmy was in a pose similar to the statue, also squirting the fountain water out of his mouth. Caitlin was not in the same pose as jimmy she was in a sexy pose and she was just wearing her pink bra and pink panties and also squirting the fountain water out of her mouth.

"It seems those two have finally found their calling in life!" laughed dr. finkelstien.

"That reminds me…" behemoth said slowly. "I'd better water my pumpkins…"

The gang groaned. "Jimmy Caitlin, you maniacs!" said jonesy. "Get down from there!"

"And don't put that water in your mouths, guys!" said Jen. "You don't know where it's been and for god's sake Caitlin put your shirt and skirt back on!"

Jimmy and Caitlin spat the last of the water out of their mouths. "Oh, it was right there, Jen," said jimmy, pointing to the water in the fountain as he and Caitlin got down Caitlin put on her pink shirt and blue skirt back on.

"Enough of that, guys!" said jonesy. "We still gotta find someone to save the other holiday leaders!"

Sam thought for a second. Then his face lit up. "I know!" he said. Then he began to run toward the town hall.

"Gezz, more running…" jonesy grumbled as he and the others followed Sam.

---

The mayor was standing up on the stage in the town hall, and was surprised to see the gang walking in. "Oh, guys!" he exclaimed. "You're back!"

"Mayor, we have a favor to ask," said Sam. "It seems that Oogie's lair is underneath this town, and five holiday leaders are being held prisoner there!"

"What?" asked the mayor.

"That's what jack said," said jimmy.

"We need to go with jack and follow Oogie," said Sam. "While we're gone, we would like you to release them from that dungeon, and kindly escort them to somewhere safe until we can fix this mess. Then you can return each of them to their own world."

"You want me to rescue the holiday leaders?" asked the mayor.

"It would help us out a lot," said Sam.

The mayor grinned. "You can count on me, guys!" he said. " I won't let you or jack down!"

---

"Wow," that was easy," said jonesy as he and the others exited the town hall.

"You see how much easier things are when you ask for them, jonesy?" asked Sam.

"I suppose…" said jonesy.

Jack was waiting foe the gang when they got back to the fountain.

"Did you find out where Oogie was?" asked jonesy.

"Yes!" said jack. "According to the hanging tree, he was headed for spiral hill."

"Excellent!" said Sam. "And since the mayor's going to take care of the holiday leaders, we're free to go after him!"

"However…" said jack. "Remember those tombstones in the cemetery that we propped back up?"

"The ones that nearly broke my back?" asked jonesy. "What about them?"

"Well, somebody knocked them over again, so the graveyard is infested with monsters again."

"Well, that shouldn't be much of a problem, right" asked Sam. "We'll just fight our way through it until we get to spiral hill."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," said jack. "The gate that leads to spiral hill is locked, and we need a key to get in. and it's hidden somewhere in the cemetery."

Jonesy groaned. "When will it end?" he asked.

"Why don't we use zero's nose again?" asked jimmy.

"Why, that's a good idea, jimmy!" said Sam. "While zero sniffs out the key, we can fend of the monsters!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked jonesy. "Let's get this guy and save Santa!"

And with that, the team headed out of Halloween town and back into the graveyard.

---

As they expected, this wasn't going to be easy. All of the tombstones had been knocked down, so Oogie's monsters once again had free reign of the cemetery.

"First thing's first," said Sam. "We need zero!"

Jack walked over to zero's grave and patted his lap two times. This time, the little ghost dog popped out without any hesitation.

"There you are, zero!" said jack. "We need your help to find the spiral hill gate key."

Zero barked happily. Then he was off like one of jimmy's Nissan skyline Gtr r34 models

"We'll hold the fort up over here," jonesy said to jack. "You follow zero and get that key!"

Jack nodded, then quickly ran after his dog.

It was either coincidence or just bad luck; but either way, as soon as jack left, an endless sea of Oogie's monsters and skeletons surrounded the gang. They really had to work overtime on this one. And they all had their own tactics: jonesy just stood there, letting the yo-yo mace zoom around and slam into its targets, sam closed his eyes and swung his death rattle around in front of him, and jimmy slammed into all of the monsters head-first, not caring where he ended up.

After what seemed like an eternity of doing the same old tactics, jack came to the rescue with the soul robber, getting rid of the remainder of the ghosts.

"Did you get the key?" jonesy panted.

"I sure did!" said jack, triumphantly holding up his prize. He looked at his little dog. "Thank you, zero." Zero gave another happy bark, then flew back to his grave.

"So where's the gate that leads to spiral hill?" asked Sam.

"In the second half of the graveyard," said jack. "we have to hurry!"

"What a surprise…" mumbled jonesy.

---

It was the same story for the second half of the graveyard, which seemed to have twice as many monsters than the first half. Luckily, since jack was now there, it was a little easier to get through. Before they knew it, the team reached the locked gate that led to the famed spiral hill. Jack took no hesitation in unlocking it.

To the team's surprise, the area around spiral hill was almost eerily calm. There wasn't a monster in sight. So they just walked up to the hill, but not before noticing a strange statue next to it.

"What's that for?' asked jonesy.

"Oogie must have installed it so nobody could enter the hinterlands from this way," said jack.

"Look at those smaller statues," said Sam. "I think they mean something."

In front of the big statue, which was shaped like a small creature with a violin, there were four other statues. And they all had a familiar indent in each one of them. There was one shaped like a turkey, one pumpkin, one like a heart, and another like an Easter egg.

"What do we do?" asked jonesy.

Jimmy's face lit up. He ripped up a piece of the ground and held it over his head. "Boing!" he said to the others. "It's a light bulb! Boing!"

"Another idea, jimmy?" asked Nikki. "I think the last thing we need right now is another stupid curse…"

"I'm in the zone, Nikki," said jimmy. He then took the thanksgiving holiday door out of jack's sack and placed it in the turkey-shaped indent. It was a perfect fit.

Sam stared for a second. "By Jove, he's got it!" he exclaimed.

"That's it!" said jack. "We have to place the holiday doors in the statues for spiral hill to uncurl!"

"But if we have to leave the doors here, how are we gonna put them back in the hinterlands?" asked jonesy.

The others stopped. They hadn't thought of that.

"For once, you have a point, jonesy…" said Sam.

"We'll have to burn that bridge when we come to it," said jack. "For now, we'll just have to put the remaining two doors back."

And with that, jack took out the Halloween holiday door and put it in the jack o' lantern-shaped indent. Sam did the same with the same with the Valentines Day door, and jonesy with the Easter door.

With all four doors in place, the statue of the creature with the violin came to life. It began to play a soft, sad tune that sounded like something from a music box, yet it seemed vaguely familiar…

"So, that's it?" asked jonesy.

"We should be able to head on through now," said jack. "Come on!"

But as they began to climb up the hill, they discovered that someone was waiting for them…

"Hi, miss sally!" Said jimmy.

"Sally?" asked the gang all together.

And sure enough, there, standing at the top of spiral hill, was sally.

"Sally," said jack. "You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous!"

Sally looked worried. "I had to warn you," she said. "Oogie's headed for the hinterlands." She looked forlornly down spiral hill. "I have a bad feeling more trouble is waiting for you down this path…"

"Sally…" Sam began, taking a step forward.

Just then, jonesy stuck his arms out, preventing the gang from getting closer.

"Jonesy?" asked Jen.

Jonesy just smiled. Jack began to walk up the hill.

Jack:** you give me strength to show you care ****I cannot fail with you so near ****I know I'd be lost without you**

Jack and sally:** we'll stand together, now and forever ****And I tell you, this very troubled night ****That we will set things right**

All eleven teenagers were watery-eyed. The scene unfolding before them felt exactly like what had happened at this same exact spot last year on Christmas.

"It's okay, sally,' jack said softly. "Nothing's going to stop us from returning Halloween town to how it was before."

And with that, jack began to run down spiral hill as it uncoiled.

"That goes for us too, sally," said jonesy as he and the others followed jack.

"You have nothing to worry about," said Sam.

"We'll hit him once for you!" said jimmy.

Sally couldn't help but slightly smile as she watched jack and the gang disappear into the hinterlands.


	19. Chapter 19 the hinterlands

Jack and the gang took a good look around the hinterlands. The lack of the real holiday doors was apparent, as the whole forest seemed to be seeing in terms of black and white.

"Hmm…" said jack.

"No wonder this place looked so bare when we were coming in!" said jonesy. "Everything's dull and gray!"

"We'll have to replace the holiday doors immediately!" said Sam.

"Yes…" said jack. "And maybe we'll find a clue as to how we can replace the rest of the doors and still have spiral hill functioning…"

"So what do we do first?" asked jimmy.

"Well, we might as well make do with what we have…" said Sam.

"Exactly!" said jack. "We need to put the St. Patrick's Day and Independence Day doors back first."

"Wouldn't it be faster if we each took a door?" asked jonesy. "That way, we can get to Christmas town faster."

"If we can find the Christmas door…" said Sam.

"I don't know…" said jack. "It's awfully easy to get lost in these woods…"

"Hey, need I remind you that we have a map?" asked jonesy, taking out his magic map. "And we got Sam here to read it. It's a cinch!"

But jack still looked hesitant. "Okay," he said finally. "You guys find the independence day portal and put the door back. but be careful. We'll meet back here, at the entrance."

"Okay!" said jonesy. "And don't worry, Jackie-boy. We can handle a forest. Which way, sam?"

"Well…" said Sam, looking at jonesy's map. "To get the Independence Day portal, we'll need to go…this way." Sam pointed down one of the paths.

"Excellent!" said jonesy. "Onward!"

And with that, jonesy started down the trail, followed by the others.

"And if you find anything suspicious, bring it back here with you!" the gang heard jack call behind them. "It might help us out!"

"Sure thing!" jonesy called back.

---

As the gang continued to march down the trail, they made absolutely sure that they were going the right way.

---

To the gang's surprise, they had reached their destination! Sitting right in front of them was the tree that held the independence

Day portal. However, instead of the Independence Day door, it sported a door with none other than Oogie's Boogie's face itself painted on the front.

"Wow," said Nikki. "That's a pretty picture…not!"

"I agree," said Sam. "let's get rid of this atrocity, shall we?"

As the gang neared the tree with the real Independence Day door, the Oogie door seemed to have a reaction to it. As the gang placed the real door in, the "Oogie door" shattered, allowing a perfect fit. The gang stepped back, admiring their handiwork.

"That's better," said Joe.

"But now what?' asked Sam.

"Ooh! Ooh!" said jimmy. "The tree's pulling a Houdini!"

"What?" asked jonesy.

The gang looked at the tree. And jimmy was right! The gang watched as the tree, along with the Independence Day door, faded into nothing!

"Oh dear…" said Sam. "I hope it was supposed to do that."

"Who cares?" asked jonesy. "Let's just head back and see if we can find the Christmas door!"

"All right, all right…" said Sam. "Please don't be so pushy, jonesy…"

---

The gangs trip back to the entrance was going smoothly, until…

"Huh?" asked Sam, looking at the map.

"What?" asked jonesy as he and the others peered to look.

"That's odd…" said Sam. "Two of the paths on this map are illuminated."

And it was true. Right there on the map, two of the trails seemed to be glowing.

"What's that mean?" asked jonesy.

"Go down them we must!" said jimmy.

"Well, it has caught my eye," said Sam. "They must have some significance."

"Like how we can replace the rest of the doors?" asked jonesy.

"Perhaps," said Sam. "Only one way to find out."

"So where are they?" asked jonesy.

"Um…" Sam studied the map. Then he turned around and pointed in front of him. "There…and there," he said, pointing to the two paths right behind the gang.

"Well, that was easy," said jonesy. "Let's go!"

The gang then took the path to the left first. In the middle of the clearing was the Easter portal, sporting an Easter Oogie door.

"Oh!" said Sam. "Look at that!"

"Well, we found a tree, but we don't have the door!" said jonesy. "Let's get outta here…huh?"

The gang turned around. Then their eyes widened. The path they had just been down was now blocked.

"What on earth…?" Sam started to say.

He never got a chance to finish. All of the sudden, the gang were surrounded by monsters.

"Where the hell did they come from?" jonesy asked in disbelief.

"It seems we'll have to fight our way back to the path!" said Sam.

"CHARGE!" shouted jimmy.

Thankfully, the monsters weren't that tough, so it was fairly easy for the gang to clear the area of the pests.

"Whoo!" said jonesy after the others were the gang were alone again. "We're getting good at this!"

CLUNK.

This sound got the gangs attention. They turned back to the tree. The Easter Oogie door had fallen out, and it was now lying on the ground in front of the tree!

"Aah!" said jimmy. "We broke the tree!"

"Calm down!" said Sam. He ran up to the Oogie door. "I think this thing could be removed in the first place."

"So what do we do with it?" asked jonesy.

"Well, I'd say the counts as 'suspicious'," said Sam. "And jack said to bring back anything that looked suspicious."

"I guess so," said jonesy. "But let's hurry up and get back to the entrance. I don't want to be sharing at that ugly face any longer than I have to."

Sam looked at the door. "Yes, I do admit that this picture is rather grotesque…"

"Who said I was talking about the door?' jonesy smirked.

Sam immediately got the joke. His eyes narrowed. "Now wait just a minute, mister!" he called after jonesy as jonesy ran back through the newly opened path. "We still need to investigate that other path anyway!"

And that's exactly what they did. As it turns out, the thanksgiving portal was right next to the Easter portal. And it was the same procedure as last time. The pathway out of the clearing became blocked, a horde of monsters appeared, the gang got rid of them, and then the thanksgiving Oogie door fell out of the tree and onto the ground. The gang took this door, along with the Easter Oogie door, back to the entrance of the hinterlands with them.

---

The gang were studying their newly acquired clues as they waited for jack.

"What the hell are we supposed to do with these things?" asked jonesy.

"Can I display them in my room?" asked jimmy.

"I highly doubt that's their real purpose, jimmy," said Sam. "But to answer your question jonesy…I don't know."

"I think I do."

The gang looked to see jack walking toward them. He also had two Oogie doors, shaped like Halloween and Valentines Day holiday doors.

"So what do we do with them, jack?' asked jonesy.

"I think," said jack, "that if we replace these "Oogie doors" with the real holiday doors back at spiral hill, we should be able to put all the doors back in place!"

Sam snapped his fingers. "Of course!" he said.

"Let's go!" said jack. "We still need to find the Christmas door, too."

"Oh, yeah…" said jonesy as the team headed back toward spiral hill.

---

To make a long story short: jack's plan worked. The Oogie doors passed perfectly as the real holiday doors. Now the team could put the rest of the doors back. They were one step closer to stopping Oogie! But there was still one problem…

"Where do you think the Christmas door is?" jonesy asked as the team started back toward the hinterlands.

"Well, that Oogie shadow said he hid the door in something 'quite nasty'," said Sam. "what do you think that means?"

"I'm not sure…" said jack. "But we'll need to hurry and find it if we're going to…"

CRASH!

Jack never got a chance to finish his statement. All of the sudden, Two horrendous monsters jumped out in front of the team, causing the gang to jump and jack to take a step backward. One of the monsters looked like it was made of fire, and the other looked like it was made of ice.

"Wh-what the hell is that?" asked jonesy.

"It seems that Oogie's getting desperate…" said Sam.

"What do we do?" asked jimmy.

"We do what we've been doing," said jack. "We fight. Don't worry, guys. I've got an idea."

"That's what worries me…" said jonesy.

Jack lunged at the ice monster, changing into his pumpkin king costume in mid-air. When his feet hit the ground, a huge fireball spewed out of jack's mouth, crashing into the ice monster and sending him crashing into the ground.

"Wow…" said jonesy.

"Whip the other ones ass jack dude!" said Jude.

"Even though they look fierce, they crumble when put in contact with their opposite element…" observed Sam.

Then it was the fire monster's turn. Jack changed into Santa jack and threw a present at the monster. But this time, instead of a clown head, what looked like a small blizzard exploded from the box, freezing the fire monster.

"He won't stay immobile for long!" said jack. "Start hammering him!"

The gang quickly got out their weapons and slammed all of them at once into the fire monster. This, along with the shock from the cold, sent him into submission. He crashed to the ground next to the ice monster.

"That was some fire and ice frenzy!" said jimmy.

Suddenly, both of the monsters began to roar in pain. Then they began to glow a bright light. It looked a lot like the bright light from Oogie's manor. This time, the gang covered their eyes. When the light finally dimmed, there wasn't a trace left of either of the monsters.

Jonesy looked up at spiral hill and gasped. "Hey, look!" he said, running up to the top of the hill.

"What?" asked Sam. "I don't see anything…"

Then jonesy picked something up off the ground and held it up for the others to see.

"…Except exactly what we're looking for!" finished sam, his face breaking into a big grin.

On the top of spiral hill, jonesy was proudly displaying the Christmas holiday door.

Jack and the others joined jonesy at the top of the hill.

"Now we have all the holiday doors," said jack. "We've got to hurry to Christmas town!"

And with that, he headed back to the hinterlands, with the gang sprinting behind them.

---

Once they got back to the hinterlands, the team thought up a plan: they would each take a holiday door, put it back, then meet in the center of the woods when they were done so they could put the Christmas door back. So that's what they did. Jack took the Halloween door, and the gang took the Valentine's Day door the thanksgiving door and the Easter door.

It took a while, but the gang got their doors back to the right trees. They then wandered around for a while before running into each other again. Then Sam led them to the center of the woods, where jack was waiting for them with the Christmas door.

"Only one more door to put back," said jonesy.

"Jack, would you do the honors?" asked Sam.

Jack then very carefully placed the Christmas door back in place, completing the circle of holiday trees.

Jack and the gang were gazing at their handiwork when all the sudden, the Christmas door opened. Then nothing happened.

"Hey," said jonesy, "are any of you feeling…"

"Deja vu?" asked Jen.

"Yeah, that," said jonesy.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew through the area, sending jack and the gang straight down the Christmas portal. In a fashion similar to last year's event, all of them found themselves falling deeper into the tree…


	20. Chapter 20 saving sandy

Back in Halloween town, the mayor had found the entrance to Oogie's lair. He was down with caged kings. His two faces repeatedly rotated as he went from cage to cage, unlocking the doors. He seemed very pleased with himself when he finally got the fifth and final cage open.

"Jack!" the mayor called out into the darkness. "I rescued all the holiday leaders!"

---

However, things didn't look so good on jack and the gangs side. They were just entering Christmas town, and it was apparent that Oogie had barged through the area. Smoke filled the air, and all the elves in the area were busy putting everything back together in time for Christmas, which was now hours away. The team watched as the elves finished fixing the giant Christmas tree in the center of the town. But everything else was a wreck.

"Goodness gracious!" exclaimed Sam.

"Wow," said jonesy. "What a dump."

"We have to find sandy!" exclaimed jack.

"And Santa!" added jimmy.

---

The team quickly made their way through town until they reached a tunnel that led to Santa's workshop. Hopefully they weren't too late!

When the team emerged from the other side, two elves were there to greet them. One was dressed in green, the other in red.

"Hello, fellow elves!" said jimmy.

But before anyone could say anything else, they were interrupted by a very unwelcome voice.

"Ho, ho, ha ha ha ha ha ha! Merry Christmas, jack!"

The team winced. This was definitely not good! They looked, and sure enough, the real Oogie Boogie was proudly sitting in Santa's sleigh, laughing hysterically.

"What's Santa doing up there?" the green elf suddenly asked, pointing up.

"What?' asked jonesy.

Jack and the gang looked up and froze. Hanging high above the ground by a rope and a hook was Santa Claus. And he didn't look too happy.

"Put me down this instant!" the not-so-jolly elf yelled.

"SANDY!" yelled jack.

"SANTA!" yelled jimmy. "Me and Caitlin are not in our happy places, guys!" he and Caitlin then began to run around in a panicked circle.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" jonesy shouted.

"Oh dear!" said Sam. "Look! From the tunnel!"

The team (minus jimmy and Caitlin) looked over at the train tunnel. It was definitely a train of Oogie's, but that's not what they were worried about. The rope holding Santa was stretched out across the tracks, and there was a knife on the front of the Oogie train headed straight for it!

"What?" jonesy yelled in exaggeration. "Aw, come on!"

"Ho ho ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Oogie bellowed from his seat in Santa's sleigh. "Now then, jack, sandy, what are you two gonna do?" he laughed some more. "This'll be fun to watch! It's payback time!"

"We gotta get him down!" said the red elf. "But how?"

"Sam?' asked jonsey, looking expectantly at his friend.

"Oh, let me solve all our problems," said Sam. He quickly looked around, desperate for an idea. Then something clicked. There were multiple train tracks weaving through the area, each with a lever to change the train's direction.

"Okay, I got it!" Sam exclaimed. "Me and the others will get Santa down safely. Meanwhile, jack, you jimmy and Caitlin will change the direction of the tracks to buy us some time, then stop that train!"

"Got it!" said jack, readying his soul robber.

"JIMMY CAITLIN!" jonesy called to his two friends. "You two are gonna ram the stupid train!"

Jimmy and Caitlin stopped running in a circle and started running straight for the train. "Happy place, happy place, happy place…" they sang as they ran.

The team quickly went to work. The others began to furiously work with the rope holding Santa, while jack jimmy and Caitlin changed the direction of the tracks while pummeling the train. And while the worked, the team found themselves singing. But it was certainly different from the song they sang during their last visit to Christmas town…

Jack: **oh no! Oh no!**

**There's trouble everywhere!**

**Oh no! **

**There's smoke clouds in the air! **

**Oh no! Oh no! **

**There's something very wrong!**

Oh no! 

**These things here don't belong! **

**Oh no! **

**The street are lined with **

**Little creatures crying **

**All the others must be hiding **

**Christmas spirit is subsiding!**

**Oh no! Oh no!**

Jimmy and Caitlin:** the joyous decorations here**

Jack:** are melting from fire!**

Jimmy and Caitlin: **no doubt the work of Oogie Boogie!**

Jack:** drat that no good liar!**

Sam:** there's fear in every window!**

**Oh, I can't believe my eyes!**

Jack:** and in my bones I feel the urge **

**To cut him down to size!**

**And there! Oh no! **

**His monsters have control! **

**Look out! **

**It chills me to my soul! **

**No more!**

**They're gathering the presents to ignite them! **

**Don't they know whom they are for? Oh no!**

He's here! It's all part of his plan! 

**The nerve! **

**He's really gone too far! **

**This time!**

Jack and the gang:** it's up to us to put a stop to this **

**Now is our chance we cannot miss! **

**This town's counting on us! **

**So we must take charge and let them know! **

**The time is now **

**For them to go! **

**Oh where to start in such a mess! **

**Oh no!**

Jack:** oh no, what now? **

**The peaceful town is ruined! **

**And look, the Christmas tree is bare! **

**Attacked! By someone, welcomed fiends! **

**I tell you I will snare them **

**And make sure they pay for their outlandish rude behavior… **

**Oh no!**

The cheerfulness is missing 

**And wonder isn't here! **

**And in their place there seems to be **

**A paralyzing fear!**

Instead of songs, I swear 

**I just hear screaming in the air! **

**The stench of Oogie Boogie **

**Is absolutely everywhere…**

Jack and the gang:** the ghosts, the ghouls! **

**They're everywhere and all around! **

**I've never felt so sad before! **

**This happy place in front of us is being trashed **

**So greedily, so greedily! **

**It's tragic! Oh, it's tragic **

**I can't stand and watch it burn!**

We've got to save this Christmas town! 

**And seize these monsters all about! This must stop!**

As the team sang "stop," jack jimmy and Caitlin thrust all of their weight into the train. It toppled over onto its side. At the same time, the others gently lowered Santa to the ground.

"We did it!' jonesy cheered.

"Whew! That was close!" said Santa, sighing with relief. But his mood changed as soon as he noticed jack. "What? You again?"

The gang shuddered. Santa had not forgotten about last year.

"Sandy, it's not…" jack tried, but then he sighed in defeat. How was he going to explain what had been happening? "Well, you see…I…I'm truly…"

Seeing that jack was struggling, Sam ran interference. "Santa…" Sam began. "Jack has been out risking his life to save you and the other holiday leaders."

"Yeah, Santa!" said jonesy. "If it wasn't for jack, we wouldn't be here right now, and you probably wouldn't either!"

"Jack's the man!" said jimmy.

Santa's face softened a little at this.

"Guys…" said jack.

"ARRGH!" a disgusted voice interrupted. "Can't anyone perish around here?"

The team turned back to Oogie.

"Oogie!" jack called. "Give back that sleigh!"

"CHRISTMAS HATER!" jimmy shouted.

"Without that sleigh, I can't deliver any presents!" said Santa. "An entire year's worth of preparations will be lost!"

"But good children all around the new world are waiting for Santa!" said the green elf.

"Aw man…" said jonesy.

Suddenly, a new jingling sound filled the air. Everyone looked up.

"Hello again, miss sally!" said jimmy.

"Sally?" asked Sam.

All jonesy could do was laugh. Sally was riding in the same sleigh he and jack had flown last Christmas! "Where'd you find that old thing?" jonesy asked between laughs.

"Sally!" jack called to her.

"Jack!" sally called back. "We have our own sleigh!"

"Yes!" said jonesy. "Now we can go after Oogie!"

"And me and Caitlin can become real elves!" said jimmy.

"No."

The gang looked at jack wide-eyed.

"No?" jonesy repeated.

"But…but jack!" said Sam. "Why?"

"I won't allow it," said jack. "It's too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" asked jimmy.

"That's the sorriest excuse I ever heard!" said jonesy. "If this is "dangerous," what do you call everything else we've gone through?"

"I'm well aware of what else has happened," said jack. "That's why you can't go."

"What, just because we get into jams once or twice, we can't go?" asked Sam. "I know you mean well, jack, but…"

"I'm sorry, but my mind's made up!" said jack. "just stay here and promise me you won't get into anymore trouble!.."

The gang were shocked at how firm jack was being. Especially jonesy. How could jack do this, after everything the team had been through?

"Jonesy, aren't you going to sat something?" asked Sam.

But all jonesy did was lump in defeat. He slowly put his hands behind his back. "Okay, you win, jack," he said. "We'll stay here."

Jonesy's hands, however, told another story. His fingers were crossed behind his back. The others immediately caught on.

"Yes, you win, jack," said sam, also putting his hands behind his back. "We'll cooperate."

"Jimmy and the others shall remain here!" said jimmy, also following suite.

"Good," said jack, satisfied. "I'm glad you guys understand." He then turned to talk to sally and Santa.

But while they weren't looking, jonesy led the others to the Halloween sleigh, and then the gang snuck into the same trunk jonesy hidden in last year.

"Oh, I feel so dirty!" Sam whispered as they got comfortable.

"Those three brats are rubbing off on us," said jimmy.

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" asked jonesy. "Just be lucky that went off without a hitch. If I've learned anything from being with jack, it's that the guy's a total sap!"

"I sure you know what you're doing, jonesy," said Jen.

"Come on!" said jonesy. "Give me a little credit! Have I ever steered you wrong before?"

"Yes," said Sam.

Suddenly, the sleigh gave a lurch. It was taking off!

"Perfect!" jonesy whispered.

"Where are we going?" asked jimmy.

"Probably to the final showdown with Oogie," said Fred.

"Right," said jonesy. "You guys ready for this?"

"Friends till the end!" said jimmy. He held his hand out on top of the others.

"That's the spirit, lumpy!" said jonesy, adding his hand.

Sam sighed. "I am surrounded by ignorance…" he said, but he placed his hands on top of the gang's hands.

"Come on guys," said jonesy. It's time we settled this once and for all."


	21. Chapter 21 taking out the trash

Jonesy groaned. He was now lying face-first on the ground in some barren area away from Halloween town and Christmas town.

"Whose idea was it to jump off the sleigh while it was still in the air again?" jonesy asked as he slowly got up.

The others lied on the ground next to him. Like jonesy, the gang was clutching their heads while jimmy and Caitlin were giggling like crazy, lying on his back.

"If I recall correctly…" said Sam, "Jimmy and Caitlin's."

"Are Caitlin and me smart or what?" asked jimmy.

"NO!" the others said.

"Well, it seems we've reached our destination, nevertheless," said Sam.

"Which is…?" asked jonesy.

The gang stood up and looked around. It certainly wasn't Christmas town, but it didn't feel like Halloween town either. There was one thing abundant in the area: all around the gang was piles and piles of garbage, not just from Halloween or Christmas, but from the other holidays as well.

"It's the holiday junkyard!" said jimmy.

"That's actually a good explanation," said Sam.

"You think Oogie's somewhere around here?" asked jonesy.

"Well, we don't even have an attack plan, jonesy," said Sam. "Remember, jack doesn't know we're here."

"Oh…yeah," said jimmy. "So what do we do?"

"Trash Oogie in the trash heaps!" said jimmy.

"Yes, I suppose that's the general plan," said Sam.

"Yeah, but we need to be quick and tough about it," said jonesy. "So here's what we'll do…" but jonesy stopped short when he saw the sudden looks of terror on all his friends faces. "What?"

"Jonesy?" Sam squeaked, pointing behind jonesy. "Look."

"Epp!" Caitlin squeaked.

Jonesy turned around…and saw just why his friends were so scared. About ten feet away, behind a huge pile of holiday garbage, a huge mass of the junk was rising out of the ground. And for some reason, it looked vaguely familiar…

Then the gang realized just why the living pile of trash seemed so familiar. It wasn't just a pile of moving trash; it was Oogie somehow, Oogie was attracting the garbage to his body, making him grow bigger and bigger and BIGGER!

"JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" the now monstrous Oogie suddenly bellowed. He was not pleased.

The gang clamped their hands over their ears, and jimmy was almost knocked over by the sudden force.

"OOGIE MUTATED!" jimmy yelled after the bellowing had died down.

"I believe you're right, jimmy," said Sam, staring in disbelief.

"Now do you see why we had to come along?" asked jonesy. "We gotta hurry and take this creep out before he does anymore damage!"

"Jonesy, can I ask you something?" asked jonesy.

"Uh…sure," said jonesy.

"Why are you so insistent that we help jack?" asked Sam. "He was doing what was probably best for us…"

"Because we owe jack!" said jonesy.

Sam stared at his friend, unsure how to respond. "We…owe jack, jonesy?"

"Yes!" said jonesy. "Jack has saved all of us on multiple occasions! Now we're gonna return the favor."

"I guess you're right…" said Sam, reflecting on their past experiences. "He did help save me when dr. finkelstein went psycho…"

"And he saved me when me and Caitlin fell asleep!" said jimmy.

"And he saved me when I konked my head," said jonesy. "And let's not forget last year!"

Sam's eyes widened in remembrance. "Oh, yes…" said Sam. "I'd almost forgotten. He saved me and the others from falling into that lava…"

"And it wasn't just that!" said jonesy. "Remember how I snuck into jack's sleigh last year, looking for my present?" the others nodded. "Well, jack knew I was there the whole time, and I ended up sitting next to him in the sleigh. And you know what we found out?" jonesy then took out the magic map to Halloween town and showed it to his friends. "It turns out that one of jack's old friends is the original owner of this map!"

It took Sam a few seconds to realize what jonesy meant. He gasped. "Your…brother, jonesy?" he asked quietly.

By this point, jonesy looked like he was about to burst into tears. He slowly put the map back in his pocket.

"Oh, jonesy…" said Sam. "I had no idea…"

"Come here, brave soldier," said jimmy, walking over and giving jonesy a hug.

"And that's not all," jonesy managed to wheeze out. "When the military shot us down…jack…he…he threw himself on top of me so I wouldn't get hurt. I could've died that night, guys. Jack saved my life…"

"Oh, jonesy…" said Sam, joining in on the hug the others joined in the hug too. "If that's the case, you had every right to come here and help out."

"Do not worry, jonesy!" said jimmy. "We shall stand together till the end."

Jonesy looked at his friends. "Really?" asked jonesy.

"Of course, jonesy!" said Sam. "It's like you said, we're nothing without each other!"

jonesy grinned. He was now confident that they could do it together. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" he asked. "Let's get that creep!"

Now with a new burst of confidence, the gang began walking toward Oogie, ready for the final showdown. However…

"Ho ho ho."

The gang froze dead in their tracks. They slowly turned around.

As they turned, a certain skeleton came out from his hiding place. "It's your last Christmas," he said, walking toward the gang.

"Uh…hi Jackie-boy," jonesy stammered. "What's shakin'?"

"I surrender!" cried jimmy.

Jack didn't say anything. He just stood in front of the gang, glaring at them. Then, suddenly, his face softened. He started walking toward Oogie. "Come on," he said. "We have a seven holidays king to dethrone."

The gang's faces lit up.

"Thank you, jack!" said Sam.

"How much did you hear?" asked jonesy.

"All of it," said jack. "You don't need to repeat yourselves."

"Geez, we can't keep anything from you, can we, big guy?" asked jonesy.

"Nope," said jack. "Now let's go show Oogie who the real king around here is."

"YEAH!" said the gang all together.

---

This time, jack and the gang ran without hesitation to the place where they had seen Oogie. However, when they reached the area, there was nothing there.

"What the?" asked jonesy.

"You think Oogie swallowed himself?" said Sam.

"That's not a bad assumption…" said jack. "But I don't think so."

"OH, JACK…"

The team froze, then turned around. There, now looking more like a skyscraper made of trash, was Oogie.

"I'M JUST GETTING STARTED!"

"What now?" asked jonesy.

"We fight," said jack, taking out his soul robber. "Just like what we've been doing."

"Works for me," said jonesy, readying the yo-yo mace.

Sam took out his death rattle, while jimmy got ready to do some ramming with his bony helmet the others just got out their guns loaded them and cocked them.

The colossal Oogie smirked at jack and the gang standing below him. "IT'S PAYBACK TIME!" he drawled.

"Is that all you've got to say?" jack asked angrily.

Apparently, it wasn't.

Ike1992: ok the song I put that the jack Oogie and the gang are going to sing is dmx ruff riders anthem remix enjoy!

Jack the gang and Oogie:** this thing right here… (Yeah yeah) **

**Is for my peoples in the streets…(ha hah) swizz beats (uh-huh) **

**And this thing right here…(ruff riders) **

**Will get your ass off your feet (remix! .. c'mon)**

They call me drag-on, when it's time to bomb 

**I burn em all, till they all say turn em off**

**Cause these chips, I'm a run em all chickenheads, know I, be the colonel cause**

**I burn eternal, mixed wit the inferno so be careful, 'fore I burn you**

**You better learn dude, yeah I heard you**

**But I'ma hurt you, but you don't know? **

**My versatile, is a vessatile ruff riders be the team, which means a lot of ice cream, lot of schemes **

**Lots of beams to make your stock drop, right on the seams**

**Nigga here is too hot and too much for you to touch**

**Better tell your man cause I'm too tough**

**Indubitably, too dust**

**Do you bust? Cause we do**

**You need to ask people, but quietly**

**But they don't believe until they leave violently**

**Is you buying this? **

**Cause niggaz that purchased is under the dirt kid they call me drag-on; I'm the youngest but get bonkers collabo' wit my dogs from Yonkers**

**But this Bronx bomber's spittin flame so you better wear your armor**

**Flame on!**

---

"Halloween town is mine!" said jack.

"You tell him, jack!" said jonesy.

"Well, aren't we confident?" asked Oogie.

---

jack the gang and Oogie: **my dogs gon' stop, your dogs gon' drop**

**And then we gon' shut em down, open up shop first we had em like ohhh, now they like nooo**

**What baby!! That's how ruff riders roll**

When I pop, I lock shop up, pull the drop up 

**Park a block up, hit the alarm, put the top up stash the 'dro in my sock then pull my sock up**

**And keep the burner but if it's hot put my glock up**

**You know what I'm about, sliden off get my cock sucked or writin rhymes watching scarface in the hot tub**

**Whatchu wanna bet, when I pull it out**

**If you don't shout that every bullet'll go in and out who you know besides 'kiss take the piss in the bottle of crist'**

**And then give it to a modelin bitch**

**And you like your wacth plain, I'ma flood mine alligator bloodline trained to find coke and bit one time**

---

"This ends here!" said jack.

"I'm laughin' to death!" said Oogie.

"Seems appropriate," said Sam.

---

Jack Oogie and the gang:** y'all niggaz ain't hearin me out, till I pop up**

**Appear in your house, clearing it out, holiday style**

**Everybody actin violent and wild**

**Snatch the wife silence the child, that's how you lose I ruff ryde, I**

**Don't like to slide felt that I slipped**

**Then the gun's only helping the clip and like who the fuck is helping my hand**

**When I cock back and hop out the van**

**Double r, get a job, play the shit in the car**

**Hit a party start a fight at the bar, and snatch your r sell you shit for some coke and get the fuck out of dodge**

**Guess you figured that my niggaz, flippers, pullin triggers**

**News team crowd around, tryin to flick a picture**

**Get witcha, this bitch from illadelph marches quicker**

**Nigga not makin sense better stay up off liquor**

**Blonde bombshell, car-a-mel, heavy spender**

**Groups be sayin I'm they sister, hush ya mouth 'fore I hit ya sticken**

**In wiseguys, fake thugs, and bullshitters**

**Take you for a ride, cover up your eye, then I get ya**

**Used to be shy-er, now I'm a ruff Ryder**

**Big niggaz play me close, when they used to ride by her**

**Snatchin up your figures, frontin, know you dig us **

**Haters, scremin, and qout; who that bitch? And quot; (uhh, uhh,) mind your business nigga**

Uhh, uhh, uhh… 

**The x is gonna hit y'all niggaz hard, leave y'all niggaz scarred**

**Fuckin with the dog when you fuckin with the god**

**Rip y'all niggaz off, faggot niggaz soft**

**Remember me from up north, I had you scared to cough**

**My name is ringin bells, in penitentiary cells I'm making thugs rebel, ain't hard to tell**

"I'm the seven holidays king!" proclaimed Oogie.

"You're king of nothing!" jack shot back.

"DEATH TO OOGIE BOOGIE!" yelled jimmy.

---

Jack Oogie and the gang:** you never really wanted it, so the mic you jumped in front of it**

Outta sixteen shot I'm a hit, which one of you niggaz am I gonna get 

**Thought you knew what I was gonna spit, this time with this rhyme**

**But by the end of it, y'all niggaz is gon' be like, and quot; yo x ripped it! And quot; did my thing as usual it's never gon' stop them cats can't be for real, I got this shit locked!**

**Is that a game or a joke? Say the name or get smoked**

**Simple as that, simple as black, to the throat**

**Hit em all up to the coat, now you losin your life (grrrrrrrrr) a dog is a dog for life!**

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The final direct hit on Oogie echoed throughout the empty wasteland of trash jack and the gang backed off, panting. Had they done enough?

"Oh my…" mumbled Sam.

Oogie groaned loudly. "NOT AGAIN!" he bellowed as a waterfall of bugs poured out of his mouth. And as they did, his body seemed to deflate, as if he was a giant thanksgiving balloon. "MY PRECIOUS BUGS!" Oogie yelled, and as he repeated this statement, he started to sound like a dying stereo as his body went flatter and flatter. "MY PRECIOUS BUGS…MY…precious…buuuuuuuuuuugs…"

When Oogie's voice finally faded into nothing, all that was left was a deflated Oogie body crawling with insects.

All jack and the gang could do was stare at the sight.

"I don't care how many times I see that," said jonesy. "That's still disgusting."

"Yeah," said jimmy and Caitlin said together.

Then, jack and the gang freely fell to the floor, onto their backs. They were clearly exhausted. But they couldn't help but start laughing.

"Well, we did it again, guys," said jonesy.

"I'm quite proud of ourselves," said Sam.

"I'm stuffed," said jimmy.

"Guys?" asked jack.

"Yeah?" the gang asked all together.

Jack's next statement was so quiet, the gang almost didn't catch it.

"Thank you."


	22. Chapter 22 as christmas dawns

A few minutes later, jack and the gang found the energy to stand. They were walking back to Halloween town when who should they find waiting for them but good old Santa Claus, having regained his red and white sleigh.

"Whew!" said the jolly old elf as jimmy and Caitlin proceeded to pet the reindeer. "For a moment there, I thought I was too late. But I managed to deliver the presents in time!"

"Awesome!" said jonesy.

Jack, however, didn't seem happy from the good news. He stepped forward. "I'm so…" he began. Then he sighed. "Forgive me…for causing you trouble again."

The gang groaned. How the hell could jack still be feeling guilty?

"No, jack," said Santa. "This time I owe you my gratitude. Thank you for saving my life!"

Jack's face lit up when he heard this. He gave a big grin as he and the gang waved at the departing Santa.

"You see, jack?" jonesy asked. "Everything worked out in the end. You gotta start thinking more positive, pumpkin king!"

At this, jack started laughing.

---

Surprisingly, it didn't take the team long to return to Halloween town. As spiral hill came into view, jack and the gang saw that a certain rag doll was still waiting for them.

Jack was the first to meet sally at the top of the hill. The gang stayed back and observed as the two drew closer to each other.

"I was so scared, jack," said sally.

Jack was still smiling. "You know, it's strange," he said, taking sally's hands and glancing back at the gang. "Whenever I set out to find something new, my eyes are opened to a larger world."

Sally's face fell. "You're not leaving again…are you?" she asked. This made the gang frown, too.

"No," said jack. The gang and sally's faces lit up again. "Something tells me that the most wonderful discoveries…are a little closer to home."

And with that, the pumpkin king embraced the woman he loved at the top of spiral hill, just like what happened on Christmas the year before.

Jonesy smiled at the scene and shook his head. Two crazy Christmases in a row. Amazing. He gave a gesture to the others, as if he was saying, "Come on, guys. Let's get out of here." The others caught on. But as the gang were heading the direction of home…

"You're leaving already?"

The gang looked back at jack. He looked sad again.

"That's kind of sad, you know?" the pumpkin king asked. "You all should at least stay for Christmas…"

jonesy gave a sad little laugh. "Well, jack, it's tempting," he said. "But I'm afraid we have to head back. We have our Christmases to attend to, you know."

"Oh…" said jack. "Of course…" the truth was this: he didn't want the gang to leave yet. He owed so much to them. They had helped him save Christmas not once, but twice. "See you next Halloween, then?"

"What do you think, dude?" asked jonesy. "Like I said, you're stuck with us."

However, deep down, jonesy didn't want to leave yet either. He wanted to spend some more time with jack. He wanted to feel the same way he did when he and jack were flying high above the sky in that coffin sleigh. But now wasn't the time. There was other business to attend to. He and the others gave one last wave as they disappeared into the hinterlands, toward the door that led back to apple creek school.

Jack frowned as he waved. He knew that he had already thanked the gang, but something still felt…incomplete. He knew he had to do more, but what? He slowly turned to his rag doll friend.

"Sally…" he tried to begin, but he was interrupted by sally's soft smile.

"You need to talk to them," sally said quietly. "It's okay, jack. I understand. We all do." She turned to walk back to Halloween town. "We can all tell how much you love those guys," she said over his shoulder. "You'd better hurry, or you'll miss them."

"Oh…right," said jack.

Sally watched as jack ran into the hinterlands after the gang. Sally smiled. No matter how many times he went away, jack skellington would always remain the same: the pumpkin king that everyone loved and adored.

---

By this time, the gang had reached the apple creek school door. The others had already jumped in. jonesy sighed. He took one last look behind him. He was about to reopen the door when…

"Jonesy!"

jonesy quickly turned around, only to find jack standing there, lightly panting. Jonesy was confused. What was jack doing here?

"Uh…hey," said jonesy. "What's up?"

Jack stared at jonesy. How was he going to explain this to him? "Jonesy…" he tried to start. "Well, I…I was wondering if…"

"What's bugging you, pumpkin king?" asked jonesy.

Jack looked at jonesy, then shook his head. Why was this so hard to ask? He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Jonesy…" he tried again. "You're…you're going to think I'm crazy for asking this, but…"

Jonesy looked expectantly at jack. For asking him what?

"Jonesy…you're not going to…go away anytime soon, are you?"

jonesy was taken a back by this question. "Go away?" he asked jack. "What do you mean, 'go'…" then it hit him. Jack was thinking that… "Aw, jack," jonesy said, almost laughing. "Is that what's been bothering you?"

"Well, sort of," said jonesy. "I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be leaving me behind, like…"

"Leaving you behind?" asked jonesy. "Dude, I couldn't leave you behind even if I wanted to! And if you think he's left you behind, you're mistaken."

Jack's face lit up a little when he heard this.

"Right after I got home from a little fiasco last year, I wrote my brother a letter, telling him that I finally met you." Jonesy explained. "What I got back was a six-page letter of how you two first met, and how you two defeated Oogie Boogie the first time he tried to take over Halloween town. He also told me how much he missed you, and how badly he wanted to see Halloween town again. Believe me. He hasn't forgotten about you one bit."

Jack slightly smiled. "But….what about you?" he asked. "I certainly don't want to lose you…"

Now jonesy did laugh. "Dude, the way I do in school, the chances of me going away the same way my brother had to are a billion to one. And, if by some crazy miracle, I do end up leaving for the same reason my brother did, you'll definitely be the first to know."

"Really?" asked jack.

"Really," said jonesy. "And I'll give the map to another kid. One who will have just as much fun with you as my brother and I have."

"Oh, jonesy…" said jack. He looked down at his feet. "Jonesy, if you want to know the truth, back when you disappeared on Oogie's lair, I was scared to death. I was so scared that I'd lose you. I know that I'll probably never see your brother again, but…I don't know what I would have done if…if…"

"Don't even talk about something like that," said jonesy. "I'm still here aren't I? Quit dwelling on stuff that could have happened, and be thankful that I'm still here!"

Just then, on impulse, jack dropped to his knees, pulled jonesy close to him, and wrapped his long bony arms around the boy. "Jonesy…" he moaned, trying hard not to cry.

"Not so hard, you sissy," said jonesy, his voice also breaking. "you squeeze my tears out." Surprisingly, he found himself not squirming, as he had done the last time jack hugged him. This time, he found himself returning the hug.

"I'm sorry," jack whispered. "I'm not supposed to be hugging you, am I?"

"Ah, it's Christmas," said jonesy. "I'll let it slide."

"Thank you, jonesy," said jack. "Thank you for everything."

"Don't mention it," said jonesy. He paused. "I should probably be heading back."

Jack slowly let go of jonesy. He was smiling again.

"You feeing better?" jonesy asked, drying his face.

"yes," said jack. "I'd better wacth it. I don't think the others back in Halloween town would find it appealing if they found out how much of a sissy their pumpkin king is."

Jonesy chuckled. Then he headed back over to the apple creek school door. He slowly turned the knob, opened the door, and climbed up onto the edge, getting ready to jump in. he gave one last look behind him.

"Merry Christmas, jack."

"Merry Christmas, jonesy."

---

The others jumped as jonesy finally emerged from the Halloween door in the woods outside of apple creek school.

"Finally!" said Sam. "What on earth took you so long, jonesy?"

"Oh, jack just came to thank me one more time," said jonesy standing up. He looked at his friends. "Well, why are we just standing here?" he asked. "If we head back now, at least we have a few hours left before the sun comes up, right?"

Sam smiled. "I suppose," he said. "Merry Christmas, guys."

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" said jimmy and Caitlin.

A few minutes later, in the middle of the rich neighborhood everything was silent and the gang went back to their separate houses this was a second adventure they will never ever forget.

End

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ike1992: and there you have it readers stay tuned for the first story called 6teen the nightmare before Christmas the one where the 6teen gang first meet jack coming soon peace out and happy reading.


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